What is Black Economy

What is Black Economy What Is the Black Economy? If you need a similar essay feel free to  ask our writers for help! The Black Economy is a significant but difficult to measure part of almost every economy in the world. Depending on the source, â€Å"black economy† is taken to mean that part of the economy that involves illegal and criminal activity, such as the trade in drugs or smuggled goods. However, the term is also used interchangeably with terms such as shadow economy, informal economy, or underground economy. Whether it involves illicit activity or not, the black economy has four key characteristics: It is a cash-based economy and is isolated from the banking system. It may feature its own sophisticated system of credit. It exists outside a country’s business regulation framework. It is usually difficult if not impossible for the government to track, and therefore is untaxable. It is not reflected in the country’s GDP or GNI statistics, though it may be a very large part of the economy. How large is the black economy? For years, the International Monetary Fund has estimated that around 30% of the global economy is â€Å"informal†; the figure is higher in poor and developing countries, and lower – but still exists at a significant level – in first-world countries. More recent studies, in particular, one done by a researcher at Bogazici University (Turkey) in 2012 using several sophisticated statistical models, give slightly lower estimates of about 22%. The black economy is largest in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, accounting for between 38 and 40 percent of those economies, and smallest in the OECD countries at slightly less than 18%. The black economy is also said to be counter-cyclical, that is, growing when the formal economy shrinks; since 1960 the size of the black economy gradually declined in most of the world but began to grow rapidly again from 2008, after the onset of the global financial crisis. The Link Between the Black Economy and Poverty The black economy is obviously larger in poorer, less-developed countries, and the link between poverty and the â€Å"informal† economy was established in two important reports published by the International Labour Organisation in 1972-1973, which characterized the development of a black economy as an outcome of survival strategies by impoverished people, most often those migrating into cities in search of economic opportunities. The ILO drew the significant (for that time) conclusion that the black economy should be considered an integral rather than complementary or marginal part of the economy but considered the existence of a large black economy as still being evidence of poverty. You may be interested in: From Boom to Bust: Financial Crisis of 2008 Currency Exchange Rates and Management What is Fiat Money? Financial Rewards Are the Only Way to Gain Employee Loyalty Money Makes the World Go Around The reasoning behind this assertion is that while a black economy can grow and actually provide fairly stable livelihoods for a lot of people, its extralegal nature prevents small entrepreneurs from growing beyond a certain point, and keeps individual workers from entering the formal job market and financial system. The ILO prescription for correcting the problem of the black economy growing in countries where unemployment and low economic output persisted was to address what the organization saw as its root causes: Excess labor supply, undercapitalization of the business sector, and a lack of skills and accessible technology. By providing educational, financial, and technical resources, it was thought, much of the black economy could be transferred to the formal economy. That was a nice idea, but in most countries, it did not work. In his 2000 book The Mystery of Capital, author Hernando de Soto explains that the ILO misread the real problems that led to the growth of a black economy. In most countries, according to de Soto’s research, the informal economic sector actually has a great amount of technical, financial, and skill resources, and the evidence of it should be instantly recognizable. After all, the full spectrum of economic activity, even if only in rough forms, is represented in the black economy, which would not be possible without the existence of the very resources the ILO believed were lacking. In de Soto’s view, simply providing more resources through training programs, housing assistance, conditional cash transfer programs, health care, and similar initiatives simply adds wealth to the black economy system and allows it to flourish, making it even harder to ‘correct’. The real solution, de Soto asserts, is n ot to provide resources but to correct institutional and regulatory structures that keep black economy resources isolated from the mainstream economy by introducing legal reforms that encourage contract enforcement, statutory and tax legalization of businesses, and strong protections of property rights. To some degree, this direction is already being followed in many parts of the world. The growth of microfinance programs, particularly in South Asia and Latin America, have in the past couple decades given more people access to the mainstream financial system by providing credit and savings. Microfinance programs also have an added advantage for governments, in that they permit at least some of the people in the black economy to be tracked, accounted for in economic calculations, and taxed. Another initiative that has grown in some parts of the black economy, particularly among agricultural workers and their families, is the growth of cooperatives. While an individual small farmer or sharecropper might only produce barely above a subsistence level of output and find himself marginalized from opportunities to formalize his business, gathering many of these people together into a cooperative gives them access to a formal business structure, and as a result, credit and other resources t o help them expand their economic activity. Despite progress in some areas, however, as the growth of the world’s black economy after 2008 showed, it is still a persistent and widespread part of global society, one which is highly sensitive to changes in economic conditions. Part of its longevity can be attributed to its attractiveness; living and working under circumstances where one is not troubled by pesky laws or taxes is not an unappealing concept. So while governments will continue to strive to reduce the black economy, it is unlikely it will ever disappear entirely. Read more about it:  Hernando De Soto, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. New York: Basic Books, 2000.

Information System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Information System - Essay Example In spite of maintaining a high performance on the business parameters, Comair was simply grounded for a full 3 days during the peak holiday season because it faced a highly damaging IT risk issue on December 24, 2004, when the company’s Information system for managing the scheduling of the crew and flights crashed. It is impossible for an airline to fly when its mission critical crew scheduling system fails. In case of Comair, this IT failure resulted in a loss of approx $20 million which was actually wiping out it previous quarter earning of $25.7 million. This report is a study in the Comair Information systems and highlights the gaps between the IT strategy and business strategy. The report also attempts to suggest an information system which can take care of the gaps between business and IT strategy so that such failures as mentioned above are prevented as much as possible as well as identifies the people, technology and organization issues which Comair must take into account before building a resilient information system. Comair information system was purchased from SBS international in the year 1986 after union and federal regulations forced Comair to meet higher standards in its management procedures. To comply with the regulations, Comair leased software from SBS International to track & schedule its flight crews. The system worked admirably and was a welcome relief for the staff who were managing the schedule using the pen & paper until then. As the business started growing, Comair felt a need to upgrade its information system as the existing system was written in FORTRAN for which there was no in-house expertise available. Moreover it was the only system using old IBM AIX platform compared to current HP UNIX. Following table lists down the milestones in Comair’s IT journey until Dec 24, 2004 against their business strategy. As can be clearly seen from the comparative

Critical Issues in Community Care and care management,In the Assignment

Critical Issues in Community Care and care management,In the perspective of Learning disability - Assignment Example Learning disability is defined as a condition or a label by different societies, showing the discrepancy and conflict in the term itself. In essentiality, it indicates a condition where the affected person has reduced capacity to learn new skills and inability to perform independently and live a life in such a way. Again, the term learning disability lends itself to much debate. Learning disability remains a very different set of conditions in social and medical literatures. The primary difference can be said to exist in the level or severity of learning disability present. Individual assessment needs to take place and each case may vary from another. Other factors that come into play include bodily factors, social, emotional and cultural factors respectively. There are two reasons why learning disabilities occur. These are either the result of syndrome acquired at birth, or due to some form of trauma to the brain during early developmental years. Social inclusion is a primary aspect in diagnosing the condition. The British Institute of Learning Disabilities claims that the term learning disability is a label, and should be avoided. The new emphasis is on creating equality for such persons and giving them an equal social standing in the society. This new emphasis is to reduce the discrimination still held by the UK public against people with learning disabilities. Current statistics state that there is 2% of the population in UK that have some form of learning disability. The statistics are expected to rise with time. More accurate assessments are needed regarding the correct number of persons with learning disabilities. Higher proportion has been found among the South Asian minority groups. Persons with learning disabilities demonstrate difficulty in understanding and comprehending complex information. There is direct relation between the severity of disability and reliance on social support. various social systems are available for this purpose, however, its liking and acceptance is based on many personal factors for the persons with learning disabilities. Most people still personally prefer to have independent accommodation. This is primarily based on the neglect and abuse that is meted out to them in such social accommodations. The health care challenges of such persons are both numerous and large. To highlight these challenges, various papers have been published, most noticeable of these including Valuing People and Treat Me Right respectively. These papers emphasize the role of nurses and how they should be trained to manage persons with disabilities. Inequalities in the delivery of care remain for persons with learning disabilities. This is an issue that must be placed in the policy plans. Laws and regulations have now emerged that provide protection to persons with learning disabilities. Alongside, proper plans and methods should be applied that allow for care of persons who take care of persons with learning disabilities. Social inclusion is another aspect that needs to attention. Persons with learning disabilities need to be given positive environment to ensure they become productive members of the society. the concept of dignity takes more meaning and deeper roots in case of persons with learning disabilities. While many papers and policies exist, there is very little that is practically carried out to respect the dignity of such

Professional and Academic Skills Development Assignment

Professional and Academic Skills Development - Assignment Example Regarding higher education, personal development planning usually comprises involves the creation of a portfolio that contains evidence of the skills attained over a specific period. It is assumed in education that personal development planning can greatly assist in the creation of self-motivated independent learner who has a higher likelihood to move to a higher degree of academic achievement (Lee, 2009, p. 31). Personal development plans are in most cases a requirement in the CVs of employees and the employees who take part in business training are regularly asked to create their personal development plans. Personal development planning that covers five years can be done by an individual with the aim of organizing personal goals and making the attainable within a particular period (Masters, Wallace, and Harwood, 2011, p. 24). In the determination of my personal developmental goals, I have a belief that personal objectives are essential to achieving and maintaining professional success. Apart from professional success, I also have an objective to maintain a healthy environment for my siblings and my colleagues to achieve success in their careers. My goal is to become a role model for the people in my family as well as my colleagues. My goal is to show them a good example in terms of perseverance and diligence in maintaining individual success in their lives. I have a particular determination to achieve a sequence of objectives that will lead to the ultimate goal of owning a company of my own. From a professional point of view, I have the insight of where my interests lie, in building my career and motivating the people around me to become better in what they do.

The Informal And Formal Carers Health And Social Care Essay

The Informal And Formal Carers Health And Social Care Essay Caring means looking after someone who is old, young or ill. The degree of care differs depending on whether one is young, old or ill but also depends on the individual and his or her requirements. The type of care given may include direct service provision, financial assistance, bureaucratic mediation and emotional support. The difference between Informal and formal care is distinguished by how the above acts of care occur. Informal care is usually voluntary and is offered by the family, neighbors or friends. The carer may be living with the care receiver and hence providing care 24 hours. It can also occur from outside the house hold whereby the carer lives outside the house hold and comes to visit the care-receiver often and complete the tasks assigned like cooking and other house work chores. The informal carers do not receive any financial payments from the care they give and hence are believed to have some kind of employment apart from their caring duties, either part time, ful l time or self employed. It involves support, social interaction and protective supervision. Formal carers act in an agency-client relationship and are paid for the services rendered. They are usually trained and there is an assessment procedure that determines the kind and amount of care that the client will receive from the carer. This is the prime difference between informal and formal care. There is a great need of incorporating informal and formal sectors in the future. This need has been brought about by the fact that studies have shown that informal carers provide 77% of all the care that has enabled people with disabilities and the old to remain at home. (Bittman et al, 2007). Impact of partnership Partnership between the informal and formal carer can occur whereby the home aides provide physical care like dressing, feeding, bathing and taking to the toilet the older people and a visiting nurse from a Medicare-funded home provide medically oriented care. These nurses may also be involved in other activities like teaching the family members on ways of providing the same treatment and care. The Family members may then be involved ion giving oral medicines and injections and caring for the wounds in between the nurse visits. Also the therapists either physical or speech therapists initiate rehabilitation programs for the care receiver and consequently teach the family members how to implement and provide it to the care receiver. Very few studies have been carried out to determine the effects of health of both types of care. Informal care has been examined on the basis of social, psychological and economic effects on the old people and on the family members giving the care. In essence it has been difficult to prove that formal home care services improve the functional status of the people who receive it But there have been recent studies which have shown that informal care given in the household improves the functional status for those being given the care The study carried out was meant to examine the functional status outcomes for care receivers discharged from the hospital with Medicare home healthcare and those discharged without Medicare home healthcare. The study showed that there is an overall deterioration six weeks later between those patients with Medicare home health care and those without. Other studies have shown that patients in fee-for service plans received more home healthcare and had more fu nctional status outcomes than the Medicare patients in HMOs. The conclusion that was suggested was that the higher intensity of home healthcare that those in fee-for -service plans received was what caused the good functional outcome. Nursing services compared to those services given by the home health aides and homemakers are more likely to reduce the likelihood of one being admitted to a nursing home. This therefore reflects nursing as an intensive intervention compared to other services. Caring and Mental health well being to Children Caring is very important and influential in the psychological development of a person. This occurs especially to newborn. Research has shown that major brain development in a child occurs in the first three years of the Childs life. In this period, there is formation of neural networks and hence a one year old child has the maximum number of brain cells that the brain can ever have in the life time of a human being. Hence there is need of caring for the infants to enable maximum and positive development of the brain. A child brain is very sensitive and is influenced by sensory stimulations e.g. listening to conversations, watching, colors, and emotional stimulation e.g. hugging. These factors can change the development of the childs brain. It is therefore important for the adult carers to stimulate the brains of the infant in various playful ways in order to bring the maximum physiological, emotional, social and mental development of the brain of the infant. By having a playful metho d of teaching, the child has a chance of discovering his or her own strengths, the body and the environment. It is imperative for the carer to allow the child to experience by experimenting. This is because lack of playful teaching methods may prevent creativity and the healthy development of the child. The carer should ensure that he or she does not use the instructional teaching method to the young child. This is the kind of method whereby the child is directed or instructed to do things. This method usually makes the child lack self confidence and he may become less clever. This is because the child may take him or herself as incapable, foolish and stupid and will always require the instructional carer to teach him or her all the time. But when the child is allowed by the carer to do and learn things by experiencing, he or she develops a heart full of self confident and he also becomes very knowledgeable. The carer should be one that encourages the child to participate in various activities that will help in the development of childs motor skills and body awareness. These activities may include those that aim at helping the child walk, climb, kick, jump, climb and catch. By doing this the child will have developed better and higher control of the smaller body muscles that coordinate finer movements. Also the carer should encourage the child to participate in other mind involving activities like sketching, painting, sculpting etc The carer should also allow for free reign to fantasy and wild imagination in order to encourage the development of the mind in terms of innovation and creativity. The carer should allow the child to make his or her own story that best suits their personal desires and they should avoid putting more pressure on the child to win any competition or contest. The carer should also not judge the child harshly as this may lead to low self esteem in the child. The child should also be given a chance to narrate his or her own story by the carer. In doing this, the child will be learning creative arts and will also learn how to express him or her self. He or she will also be developing courage of speaking to people. This will also build the confidence level of the child (Simi A., 2010). Caring and Mental health well being of the old The old are very prone to diseases like Schizophrenia. The characteristics of this disease may lead to increased mortality rates and high rates of other medical complications like respiratory and circulatory diseases. There is need to care for the old people because schizophrenia if accompanied with undiagnosed illnesses, lack of access to adequate medical care can lead to inadequate adherence to therapy. Caring for the mentally ill. Caring is important for the mentally sick. There are two kinds of treatment to mental disorders.ie Somatic and psychotherapeutic. Somatic treatment involves the drug and electroconvulsive therapy while psychotherapeutic. Include the treatment that is offered by an individual, a group or a family member. This is the kind of treatment that involves the carer. The carer has the responsibility of ensuring that the sick person gets well through offering him or her Psychotherapy. This is refereed to as talk therapy in that the cure of the person lies within himself. In such a case the carer has the key to the persons health and well being. This is because the cure for such a person can only be facilitated through creating an emphatic and acceptable atmosphere and through this the carer can help the person identify the source of the problem and can now consider the alternatives of dealing with them. The insight and emotional awareness that is gained through the carers talk therapy can lead to the change in attitude and behavior of the person and this can help the person to live a healthier, long and more satisfying life. The carer has a responsibility of creating a relationship that is empathetic and supportive between the care receiver and him or her. This relationship can lead to more open and courageous expression of feelings and hence the carer can be able to help the sick person to healthy living. The relationship that the carer establishes with the sick person is the key to the recovery. Curing of mental illnesses. There are a number of methods that are used to cure mental illness and these include methods like Drug and Electroconvulsive Therapy. There are a number of drugs as well that are used and they are highly effective in treating mental illnesses. These drugs are often prescribed and they are usually categorized in accordance to the disorder e.g. for depression, antidepressants are used. Electroconvulsive therapy is whereby electrodes are used and these are attached to the head and the sick person is sedated. Electrical shocks are delivered into the brain and this induces a brief seizure. This method has been proved the best for treatment of severe depression. After this exposure, the patient usually experiences a temporary memory loss but the method is safe and does not cause other side effects or complications (Carney, 2007). Conclusion Caring is a very important aspect in our society. This is because a lot of people are getting old while others are being born and hence these two groups of people need care. Both informal and formal caring should be partnered to ensure effective service delivery to the patients. The use of psychotherapy is common even to people who do not suffer from mental illnesses. It has been used in a number of conditions even top those people who do not suffer from mental conditions. It has been found to be useful in helping people cope with problems of unemployment, bereavement, marriage problems and chronic illnesses. Both psychotherapy and drug therapy should be used for the treatment of mental illnesses as no one method is effective on its own.

History Of Money Essay -- essays research papers

What is Money? At first sight the answer to this question seems obvious. A man or woman in the street would agree on coins and banknote which could be known as checks, for a good or a service but would they accept them from any country? They would probably be less willing to accept them than their own country's coins and notes but bank money actually accounts for by far the greatest proportion by value of the total supply of money. Credit cards and gold are some what different. The gold standard belongs to history but even today in many rich people in different parts of the world would rather keep some of their wealth in the form of gold than in official, inflation-prone currencies. Gold is a attractive type of material which led to its use for monetary transactions for thousands of years. All sorts of things have been used as money at different times in different places. Like amber, beads, cowries, drums, eggs, feathers, gongs, hoes, ivory, jade, kettles, leather, mats, nails, oxen, pigs, quartz, rice, salt, thimbles, umiacs, vodka, wampum, yarns, and zappozats (decorated axes). It is almost impossible to define money in terms of its physical form or properties since these are so diverse. Therefore any definition must be based on its functions, which are units of account, common measure of value ,medium of exchange, and store of value. So with that in mind money is anything that is widely used for making payments and accounting for debts and credits. Money originated becau...

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) Essay

The United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are both effective ways to report financially account for one’s business assets but they have several differences. in this paper I will attempt to outline a few of the more significant differences and allow you to make up your mind as to which of these two systems is the better one. The first difference that is widely accepted between the two methods is that U.S. GAAP is rules based and IFRS is principle based. This means that IFRS allows more for adaption of the circumstances and allows for professional judgment while U.S. GAAP is more stringent and less forgiving. The argument back and forth is that the rules for U.S. GAPP are too large and broad stroked which doesn’t allow for different odd situations, while it is argued that the IFRS is too biased which can allow for too much manipulation. A primary difference between the U.S. GAAP and the IFRS is the way the business financial statements report the value of the company’s property and holdings. The U.S. GAAP method utilizes the Historic Cost Principle (HCP) while the IFRS uses the Fair Market Value (FMV). Under the HCP the asset owned by the company if forever recorded at the price for which it was initially purchased while the FMV approach allows for a periodic re-assessment of the current value of the asset. This has both positive and negative effects based on the economy and the housing market. Over time you would expect that the value of property to rise, for example if a company had bought my parents 2 bedroom home for the listed price of $19,500 in 1980 knowing that the same house is now appraised at $105,000 then it would be beneficial to re appraise the house under the FMV as the asset is worth a lot more than the original $19,500. The down side for using the FMV would have been in 2009 when the housing market collapsed. At that point the house was appraised at $87,000. If the year prior the company recorded its asset at $105,000 then it would have taken a loss when the house was reappraised. So you can see that utilizing the FMV in this case is a gamble based on the fluctuation of the outside market and also raises the question of how often should the re-appraisals be done to be the most advantageous to the company. The next difference I want to highlight is the Last In, First Out (LIFO) method. This is a method commonly used in the United States under the U.S GAAP primarily because it helps with tax purposes. Utilizing LIFO the company applies the latest cost of providing the goods to the entire supply inventory regardless of what the company paid for the good already in stock. This shows a decrease in the gross profit margin therefore lowering the taxes at the end of the year. For example if a company manufactures 1,000 tubes of toothpaste a month at $1 a tube and sells them for $2 each then they would make a profit of $1,000 a month or $12,000 a year. If the price of manufacturing the toothpaste went up to $1.50, 6 months into the year then using the LIFO method the company would record that there profit is only .50 a tube or $6,000 a year and would only pay taxes on that $6,000 vice the $12,000 even though they made the full dollar profit on the toothpaste for the first 6 months. This is a p ractice that is used primarily in the U.S. because of our tax laws and not endorsed by other countries or under the IFRS. Another difference between the two programs falls under the category of Liabilities. A liability as defined in the text is â€Å"An economic obligation (a debt) payable to an individual or organization outside of the business†. This difference between the two programs is slight and goes back to my first paragraph dealing with rules versus principle based assessments. Both IFRS and U.S. GAPP accept the that the future event will probably take place but the IFRS defines the word probable as anything greater than 50% while the U.S. GAAP with its more stringent rules defines probable as 75-80%. This means that more liabilities would be recognized with IFRS then U.S. GAAP. The last difference that I will go over is that of brand names and patents. Under the stringent rules of U.S. GAAP, the only time a company can account for the capitalization or equity of a patent or brand is if the company purchased the patent from an outside source. If it was thought up or created by the company internally the company would have to record the expenses of the development on the income statement. Under IFRS the company would be allowed to count the potential equity based on the probable future benefits. Most of the world has already adopted the IFRS and the Financial Accounting Standards Board is working on a world wide solution in bridging the gap between these two programs. In closing the U.S. GAAP program is more stringent while the IFRS allows for more flexibility. Although this flexibility associated with the IFRS program seems like it would be more beneficial to more companies, the argument would still be is flexibility better or just a lack of integrity. References: Harrison, Horngren, & Thomas 9th Edition St Joseph’s University (http://www.sju.edu/int/academics/hsb/accounting/IFRS.html) Bass, Solomon & Dowell (http://www.bsd-cpa.com/index.php/comparing-and-contrasting-international-financial-reporting-standards-ifrs-and-generally-accepted-accounting-principles-gaap)