Respond Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Respond - Essay Example The narrator spins the story around several occurrences at the office. These range from the worsening situation of the company caused by leaving of the clients which subsequently leads to the firing of the employees; to personal issues faced by the employees such as Amber’s unexpected pregnancy, speculation about personal life, death, illness, fear of work place violence, Benny’s totem-pole dilemma, Carl’s depression and pharmaceutical abuse as well as the disintegration by Chris over his chair issues. The story culminates with the discovery that the cool-headed Lynn is dying of cancer. I feel that the ‘we’ connotation used by the narrator is questionable to some extent. This is because even though the narrator uses the plural pronoun ‘we’ to narrate the story and insinuate a sense of solidarity at the workplace, this is far from the truth as the coworkers know every little about each other and are unable to maintain genuine long-term relationships at the

Health Care Careers Diagram and Summary Essay Example for Free

Health Care Careers Diagram and Summary Essay What is a Physical Therapist do? Each of us has an important role in health care field whether a Pharmacist, Technician, Lab Scientist, Therapist, Nurses, Doctors, and other health care professionals. They have one purpose to provide the best quality of care to the patients with compassionate and respect. They are guided by the rules and guidelines set up by the state and federal government to maintain proper standards and update the techniques concerning healthcare delivery. Career Description. Physical therapists sometimes referred to as PTs, help people who have injuries or illnesses improve their movement and manage their pain (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012). PT plays an important role in rehabilitation and gives treatment to the patients with chronic conditions or injuries. They diagnose the patients’ dysfunctional movements by watching them walk, stand, balance, coordination, strength, range of motion and many more. Physical therapists work as part of a healthcare team, overseeing the work of physical therapist assistants and aides and consulting with physicians and surgeons and other specialists (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012). They work in wellness-programs to encourage everyone for more active lifestyles. They also establish appropriate plan of care, depending on the patients condition whether it is a neurological case, orthopedic case, sports injury, pediatrics, geriatrics, sports, and others. Services Provided. Physical therapist services are wide range from acute care hospital, sub-acute care, skilled nursing facility, home health, and outpatient care. Their work varies with the type of patients they serve. Orthopedic/Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation is one of the services they provided, whereas they focus on all types of musculoskeletal conditions of the entire spine and extremities. Another one is Vestibular Rehabilitation, which is more on balance, dizziness, motion sensitivity, and vertigo rehab. Workforce roles within the services and products. The rehabilitation team is composed of a physical therapist, physical therapist assistant and rehabilitation aide. Usually physical therapist is the head of the team with at least a bachelors, doctorate, or masters’ degree in physical therapy. They do the initial evaluations and assessment of the patient upon admission. They also establish the care plan (long-term goals and short-term, as well as set up the treatment guidelines and parameters. The PTA’s job is to carry out the treatment following the plan care set by the therapist, unless the treatment requires a specialization by a PT for example, manual mobilization, myofascial release techniques, and many more. The rehab aide’s job is to help maintain the rehab facility or gym. They could also assist in treatments with direct supervision by PT. They could also help by doing aftercare after the PT or PTA works with the patient, or do desk jobs like scheduling patients, whereas no degree or license is required to work as a rehab aide. Impact of Physical therapist on the health care organizations. The therapist importance and influence on the health care system is very crucial, by doing therapy they help and guide the patients to return on their prior level of function and achieve their max potential. They also help prevent re-injury because of poor management of the healing process, by setting up the right exercises, depending on the patients level, stage of healing, and comorbidities that comes with the patient. Therapist also help by giving an alternative form of disease healing and pain management, for example a patient who has arthritic pain on B knees that has been dependent on strong pain medicine. Therapy can use physical agents and modalities, like heat, cold, ultrasound, and right amount of exercises to engage week muscles and promote improved mobility. Conclusion Health care providers have different roles in health care industry. Each of them has a special purpose on how to give a better treatment, care, and diagnosis to the patients. Through proper education and training, they will be able to provide what the patients needs. Health care professionals have one goal, which is to make the patient better and help them live a quality and healthy life. Appendix A: Figure 1 Diagram of Physical Therapist roles and functions in the health care community. Figure 1 describe as the role of MD, PT, PTA, and rehab aide with regard to patient care. First the referring MD makes the prescription for the patient to be admitted to physical therapy. The physical therapist checks the prescription initiate evaluation, assessment, and establish plan of care. The PT could proceed with the treatment himself or pass to the PTA. The PTA’s job is to initiate the treatment program following the goals and treatment parameters set up by the PT. Rehab aide assist the PT or PTA during treatment and helps with scheduling patient visits as well as monitor insurance coverage for the patient. References Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2012, April 6). What Physical Therapists Do. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Healthcare/Physical-therapists.htm#tab-2 PT1. (2013). Physical Therapy One. Retrieved from http://www.physicaltherapyone.net/services

Win XP Pro vs. Win 2K Pro :: essays research papers fc

Title Windows XP Pro vs. Windows 2000 Pro Thesis Statement I got to play with XP Pro and fell in love with it the same way with 2000 Pro! Outline I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How I fell in love all over again! B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  XP Pro and XP HE (Home Edition) C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Office XP II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Body A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  XP Pro vs. 2000 Pro B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Application Compatibility C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What’s new - IPv6 D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  AD and XP Pro E.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  WINS a thing of the past! III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Conclusion A. XP Server and XP Corporate Windows XP Pro vs. Windows 2000 Pro Learning to play with 2000 Pro was fun. It challenged me in a great way. I learn some fundamentals about how an OS worked. Then I got to play with XP Pro and fell in love with it the same way I fell in love with 2000 Pro! When I had first heard about Windows XP I at first thought it was going to be another 9x OS for the home computer. Soon I was told that it would also have a Professional one too. But I was learning Windows 2000 and so I dismissed XP once again. My teach, Tony A., said XP was 2000 with a new GUI and this got me thinking more about this OS. If I learn all I can about 2000, learning XP will be a piece of cake! Then one day when I came to class and saw that XP Pro was install on the computer that I was sitting at in class. I got to fool around with it for about two hours and I was hooked! I’m getting ahead of my-self here, let me talk really quickly about XP Home Edition (HE) that is out there! It works more or less like Windows 98 with a little Windows 2000 upgrades. It’s mainly for the home use as it’s the name for the OS. Unlike 98 it don’t just sit on top of your computer. It acts more like 2000 in that it shields the hardware from the software and keeps it from crashing. It loves Plug and Play hardware. It features a 32-bit computing architecture, and a fully protected memory model. Since it’s got a lot of the 2000 built in, it features â€Å"Home Networking† network your home systems like an office! The only draw back is the fact that it use only basic disk, try to use dynamic and you’ll break the OS! The thing with XP HE is that Microsoft is selling the OS as a home entertment center than anything, so I’m not going to hold my breath for anything big to come out of this OS.

Coffee Commodity Chain

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS ISSN 1441-5429 DISCUSSION PAPER 06/08 COFFEE COMMODITY CHAIN Tine S. Olsen and Brett Inder ¦ ABSTRACT: To explain the value added along the coffee commodity chain we propose and estimate a theoretical model of the coffee commodity chain. The theoretical model consists of four markets and five agents in the coffee commodity chain and predicts that prices in the coffee commodity chain move together but are also influenced by income, technology and production. A vector error correction model is used to test the theoretical predictions.In addition to the theoretical conclusions the empirical model confirms the beneficial role of the International Coffee Agreement and the importance of the level of production in determining coffee prices. Key words: global commodity chain, vector error correction model, coffee, value added JEL classifications: O01, F02, Q110, C320, F230, F14  ¦ Monash University Department of Economics (Olsen), Monash University Department of E conometrics and Business Statistics (Olsen and Inder). Corresponding author Tine S. Olsen, [email  protected] monash. edu.  © 2008 Tine S. Olsen and Brett InderAll rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author COFFEE COMMODITY CHAIN 1. Introduction Between being grown and picked by a farmer in a developing country and being consumed, most often in a developed country, coffee passes through many sets of hands. Inspired by the global commodity chain literature we here propose a theoretical and an empirical model of the coffee commodity chain. We want to find out what determines the value added at each stage of the commodity chain.The question touches upon the distribution of income among agents and countries in the commodity chain, the prevailing market structure at each stage of the production process, trade, bargaining power and other factors influencing the commodity chai n. Figure 1 provides a graphical representation of the value chain for coffee in Brazil, Colombia and the US. [Figure 1] Value added at the various stages of the chain is the difference between input and output price. For Brazil and Colombia producer’s share is producer price and processing and transport is export price minus producer price.For Brazil international processing and transport is the difference between import price of Brazilian coffee in US and the export price in Brazil and processing in US is the US retail price minus the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US. For Colombia processing in US and transport is the difference between the US retail price and the Colombian export unit value. Regarding weight-loss due to roasting, green coffee is the commodity at all stages of the chain until it reaches the consumer. We follow one pound of green coffee along the commodity chain and multiply the retail price by 0. since coffee looses 20% of the weight in roasting ( Daviron and Ponte, 2005, p. 242, n. 5). 2 Figure 1 shows that the share of value added acquired by Brazil and Colombia has decreased after 1948. Behind this observation lies that the share to producers has decreased in Colombia but remained roughly constant in Brazil while the shares to domestic processing and transport have decreased in both countries, in particular after 1990. What we attempt to explain by this analysis are the decreasing shares of income to producing countries and the disappearing margins to exporters.The framework of this analysis is global commodity chains, terms of trade literature and price transmission literature. Commodity chains for coffee are described by Talbot (1997; 2002) and Ponte (2002). Commodity chain analysis focuses on the good along the nodes of the chain, and looks at the flow of the good through the commodity chain, the transactions which take place along the chain, the geographical location of the chain, the agents involved in the chain, and the rules governing the chain (Talbot, 2002).North-South trade and growth literature is relevant in the analysis of commodity chains to model the terms of trade between North and South. Darity and Davis (2005) argue that in the study of uneven development the North-South trade and growth literature provides insights which have been neglected by the later literature of new growth theory and new trade theory. This has encouraged us to apply North-South models to the coffee value chain. The theoretical model derived in section 2 builds on Bloch and Sapsford (2000) who model primary commodities used as inputs in the production of manufacturing.Where Bloch and Sapsford (2000) take an aggregate view of primary commodities and manufactures, we here focus on coffee and hereby take an approach similar to Boratav (2001) who examines terms of trade for individual commodities. And just like Bloch, Dockery, and Sapsford (2004) we analyse the effect of mark-up on wages and commodity prices on the final consumer prices. Price transmission literature such as Hazell, Jaramillo, and Williamson (1990), Mundlak and Larson (1992), Baffes and Gardner (2003), Krivonos (2004), Morisset (1998) and Weldegebriel (2004) also offer a framework to analyse prices of commodities at different 3 odes of the commodity chain. This part of the literature views producer and retail prices as determined by world prices. In Bloch and Sapsford (2000) the price of manufactures, which is a good higher up in the value chain if it is interpreted as roasted coffee, is a function of the price of primary products because primary products are inputs in the production of manufactures. In the transmission literature it is assumed that the price formation happens in the world market and that market forces allow prices movements to trickle down to producers and consumers.The price trickles down because of trade, price signals and arbitrage. The causality between world prices and producer prices is therefore oppos ite in the terms of trade literature and the price transmission literature. The contradiction is created because the value chain literature focuses on the flow of goods while the transmission literature focuses on the flow of information and market signals. We can look at the problem in multiple time frames. In the long run, prices may be determined by economic fundamentals and can be modelled according to the terms of trade literature.In the short run the price may be a result of the global market situation and the transmission literature is applicable. We here propose a theoretical model which builds on the terms of trade literature but the same time accommodates features from the price transmission literature. The choice of countries in the empirical model poses the main limitation of the empirical analysis. Coffee is consumed in all countries across the world and production statistics are available for 71 countries1. Though an analysis comprising all consuming and producing coun tries is possible, the approach here is to only look at a few countries.The countries for analysis in this study are the largest producer, Brazil, the largest consumer, US, and Colombia as a country which depends heavily on coffee. 2 In the following, the theoretical model is presented in section 2. The empirical model, data and preliminary data analysis are presented in section 3 and section 4 reports the results. The theoretical hypotheses and empirical results are evaluated in section 5, which concludes. 4 2. Theoretical Model The commodity chain, which spans from producers to consumers, is modelled in the form of the prices at each node of the chain.The model builds on Bloch and Sapsford (2000), but instead of primary commodities and manufactures, we here follow the same commodity along the chain and the commodity is an input in the production at the next stage of the chain. The producer and intermediary one (often the exporter) meet in market one where the producer price is det ermined. In market two intermediary one sells the commodity to intermediary two (often the importer) for the export price. In market three intermediary two sells the commodity to intermediary three (often the roaster) for the import price.Finally in market four intermediary three sells the commodity to the consumer and receives the retail price. The model has this set of agents to reflect what price data is available at the various stages of the supply chain. Except for intermediary three, each agent takes the price and quantity produced in other markets as given. This assumption makes the markets separable. Intermediary three determines the price in market four by mark-up and we hereby follow Bloch and Sapsford (2000) in the assumption of different market structures in developing and developed countries.The assumption of imperfect competition in market four reflects the high concentration in the coffee roasting sector as described by Talbot (1997). The commodity is produced by the farmer according to the production function G = Ae? 0t L? 1T ? 2 ? G . G (1) Where, in the case of coffee, G is green coffee, LG is the labour input in coffee production, T the number of coffee trees and ? G is a random disturbance term, such as weather. t is time and represents technological progress in the production techniques. ? 0 , ? 1 and ? 2 are elasticities of inputs and technology.The number of trees is assumed to be fixed in the short term and is therefore not a variable input. 5 Exporters constitute the demand side in market one. They have the production function: X = Be ? 0t L? 1 G ? 2 ? X , X (2) where X, in the case of coffee, is green coffee packed, sorted and graded and located in the producing country. LX is the labour input necessary to export the product. It should be noted that green coffee, which is the output produced by the farmer according to the production function (1), is an input in the exporter’s production function.As before, t represents technolo gical progress and ? 0 , ? 1 , and ? 2 are elasticities of inputs and technology. The shocks, ? X , may represent strikes or other random shocks to the production process. The production functions for importers and roasters are defined in a similar manner with coffee from the previous part of the chain as an input. 1 M = De? 0t L? M X ? 2 ? M (3) R = Fe? 0t L? R1 M ? 2 ? R (4) Equation (3) is the production function for importers and equation (4) is the production function for roasters. M is green packed and sorted coffee imported into the consuming country.R is roasted and ground coffee sold in retail. The importer employs labour LM and the roaster employs labour LR . The factor prices are as follows. The price of LG is the wage rate in agriculture, wG ; the price of LX is the wage paid by exporters, wX . The price of LM is wM and the price of LR is wR . Coffee at stage J of processing has price pJ , e. g. G has the price pG . It is assumed that all inputs have positive but diminis hing marginal products in all four production functions: 1 > ? 1 > 0 , 1 > ? 2 > 0 , 1 > ? 1 > 0 , 1 > ? 2 > 0 , 1 > ? > 0 , 1 > ? 2 > 0 , 6 1 > ? 1 > 0 and 1 > ? 2 > 0 . It is also assumed that inputs together do not give rise to increasing returns to scale: ? 1 + ? 2 < 1 , ? 1 + ? 2 < 1 , ? 1 + ? 2 < 1 and ? 1 + ? 2 < 1 . 2. 1 Price Determination in Market One In market one we assume perfect competition and the price paid to farmers, pG , is determined by equilibrium in the market with demand and supply for green coffee. Supply is determined by profit-maximising coffee farmers and demand by profit-maximising exporters. Profit maximisation gives the supply function: pG = wG? 1? 1 ? Ae? 0tTG 2 ? G ? ? ? ?1/? 1 G (1 1 )/? 1 . (5) The optimal amount of coffee demanded by the exporter who profit maximises is: ( ) 1/(1? ?1 ? ? 2 ) G = ? p X Be ? 0t ? X pG ? 1 ? 1? 21? ?1 wX ? ?1 ? 1? 1 ? ? ? (6) . The equilibrium price in market one is derived by equating supply given by equation (5) an d demand in equation (6): ln( pG ) = a0 + a1 ln( p X ) + a2 ln( wG ) + a3 ln( wX ) + a4 ln(T ) + a5t + ? G (7) Where ( ( a0 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln ? 1? 1 A? 1/? 1 B? 21? ?1 ? 1? 1 ) (1 1 )/[? 1 (1? ?1 ? ? 2 )] ), a > 0 0 (8) a1 = ? 1 ? ?1 ) , a1 > 0 (9) a2 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , a2 > 0 (10) a3 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ) , a3 < 0 (11) a4 = 2 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , a4 < 0 (12) a5 = ? ( ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ) ? ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ) (13) & ?G = ? ( (1 ? ?1 ) ln(? X ) ? (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln(? G ) ) (14) 7 ? = (1 ? ?1 ? ?1? 2 ) ?1 (15) The coefficients will be interpreted in section 2. 5 below together with the rest of the coefficients of the model. 2. 2 Price Determination in Market Two In market two exporters sell to importers. The price is again determined by equilibrium between demand and supply.Supply is determined by profit maximisation by exporters and demand by profit-maximising importers. Supply in market two by the exporter is calculated from what amount of coffee is demanded in market one: 1/(1? ?1 ? ? 2 ) X = ? Be ? 0t p X ? 1 + ? 2 ? X pG ? ? 2 ? 2 ? 2 wX ? ?1 ? 1? 1 ? ? ? (16) The demand function by importers is derived by profit maximisation in a similar manner to the derivation of the demand function for exporters above. Making use of the symmetry of the production functions, the demand function is similar to (6). The price in market two is determined by equating demand and supply: n( p X ) = b0 + b1 ln( pG ) + b2 ln( pM ) + b3 ln( wX ) + b4 ln( wM ) + b5t + ? X (17) where the b’s are: b0 = ? ?( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln ( B? 2 ? 2 ? 1? 1 ) + ( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln ( ? 2? 1 ? 1? 1 1 D ? 1 ) ? , b0 > 0 ? ? (18) b1 = 2 (? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) , b1 > 0 (19) b2 = ? (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , b2 > 0 (20) b3 = 1 (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ) , b3 > 0 (21) b4 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , b4 < 0 (22) b5 = ? [ ? 0 (? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) + ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ] (23) 8 ? X = ? ( ( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln(? X ) + (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln(? M ) ) (24) ? = (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ( ? 1 + ? 2 ) ) > 0 (25) ?1 2. 3 Price Determination in Market ThreeIn mar ket three, intermediary three purchases green coffee from intermediary two, or in the example of Brazil, the roasters purchase the coffee from the importers and produce roasted coffee according to the production function (3). The roasters’ demand and the importers’ supply are again given by profit maximisation. Given the similar production functions for roasters and importers, the derivations of the equilibrium price are as for market two. The equilibrium price is (expected signs in parentheses under the coefficients): ln( pM ) = c0 + c1 ln( p X ) + c2 ln( pR ) + c3 ln( wM ) + c4 ln( wR ) + c5 t + ? M + + + + ? (26) + /?The signs of the coefficients are determined in a similar way as in market two since the market set-ups are identical. 2. 4 Price Determination in Market Four In market four the price is not determined by supply and demand, but rather by a mark-up on the unit cost function because of imperfect competition. This is one of the conclusions by Prebisch (195 0) and Singer (1950) which Bloch and Sapsford (2000) also model. The price is determined by: p M? ?L w pR = m ? R R + M ? R? ?R (27) Where m is the mark-up. To derive pR the cost-minimising demands for labour and green coffee are derived and inserted into (27) which gives the price of oasted coffee: ln( pR ) = d 0 + d1 ln( R) + d 2 ln( pM ) + d3 ln( wR ) + d 4 ln(m) + d5t + ? R (28) where 9 ( ) ( ) d 0 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) ? 1 ln( B) + ? 1 (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln ? 2? 1? 1 + ? 2 (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln ? 1? 2 ? 1 , d 0 > 0 (29) d1 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) (30) ?1 ?1 ?1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , d1 >0 d 2 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) ? 2 , d 2 > 0 and d3 = ? 1 (? 1 + ? 2 ) , d 3 > 0 (31) d5 = 0 (? 1 + ? 2 ) < 0 , d 5 < 0 (32) ? R = ? (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln(? R ) (33) ?1 ?1 ?1 ?1 2. 5 Hypotheses Before commencing to estimate the system of the four equations, equation (7), (17), (26) and (28), it is necessary to address data limitations.To test the four equations for the coffee market it is necessary to have wages in coffee farming, wages in th e coffee-exporting sector, wages in the coffee-importing sector and wages in the coffee-roasting sector. These wage data are not available and the wages in producing countries, wG and wX , will be approximated with the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in producing countries, y P . Wages in the importing sector and the roasting sector in the consuming country, wM and wR , are approximated with the GDP per capita for a consuming country, yC .In addition to data on wages, data on coffee trees limit the empirical analysis since data for coffee trees or acreage are not available for the desired timeframe of the analysis. The quantity of coffee trees enters equation (7) and coffee production enters equation (28). Both variables are in the empirical model represented by world coffee production. The alterations to the theoretical model, give the following four equations: ? pG = a0 + a1 p X + a2 y P + a4 q + a5 t + ? G + + + /? ? + /? (34) 10 p X = b0 + b1 pG + b2 pM + b3 y P + b4 yC + b5 t + ? X (35) ? pM = c0 + c1 p X + c2 pR + c3 yC + c5 t + ? M (36) R = d 0 + d1 q + d 2 p M + d 3 yC + d 4 m + d 5 t + ? R (37) + + + + + + + + + ? + + /? + + /? + /? 1 ? The expected signs of the parameters are indicated under the respective parameters; +/– indicate that the sign is uncertain from the adjusted theoretical model. World production is q, and the coefficients on income in market one and three are defined as: ? a2 = a2 + a3 = ? ?1 (? 1 (1 ? ? 2 ) ? ?1 ) * c3 = c3 + c4 = [? 1 (1 ? ? 2 ) ? ?1 (1 ? ? 2 ) ] (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ( ? 1 + ? 2 ) ) (38) ?1 (39) The coffee commodity chain model consists of the four simultaneous equations in equation (34) to (37) from which hypotheses can be derived.Firstly, it is apparent that all prices are positively correlated. An increase in the price of coffee in market i–1 (increased input price) shifts the supply curve in market i left since it increases marginal costs and the equilibrium price is higher and the quantity traded lower. An increase in the price of coffee in market i+1 increases the supply in market i+1 and hereby the demand for coffee in market i and increases the price in market i. Secondly, the coefficients on national incomes have mixed signs. They depend on the input elasticities of labour at different nodes of the chain.If the input elasticity of labour in coffee growing (importing) is relatively large compared to the input elasticity of labour in ? ? coffee exporting (roasting) then a2 ( c3 ) will be positive. It may be assumed that production processes are relatively more labour-intensive early in the commodity chain because of less reliance on capital. In market two the coefficient on producer income is positive because it is an input price for exporters. In contrast consumer income is an input price for importers and decreases the export price. The coefficient on income, d 3 , in market four expresses a markup, and is positive.Overall coefficients on national incomes are expected t o pull coffee prices 11 up, only with the exception of the income in the consuming country which is assumed to depress the export price of coffee. Thirdly, coffee production has a positive impact on the retail price, but a negative impact on the producer price. It is expected that the effect of output is largest on the producer price because prices paid to producers are primarily influenced by conditions in the coffee market while the retail prices in consuming countries are outcomes of many factors, such as market structures, wages and technology.In a system with all four equations the coefficient on production is therefore expected to be negative. Fourth, the effects of technological change on the prices in markets one, two and three are uncertain, and negative for the retail price in market four. If it is assumed that production methods become more technologically progressive the higher up they are in the chain, the coefficients on the time trend will be positive in market one, t wo and three. Constants a0 , b0 , c0 and d0 , are positive but do not have any economic interpretation. G , ? X , ? M and ? R are random shocks with expected value zero. ?G , ? X and ? M are linear combinations of shocks to production in two markets. Therefore, the residuals generated by estimation of equations (34), (35), (36) and (37) are not independent of each other. Furthermore, any given price in the commodity chain depends on the prices at the previous and next stage of the chain. The four equations are hence simultaneous, and the econometric model accommodates for this. 3. Econometric Model and Preliminary Data AnalysisAnnual data from 1948 to 2004 are employed to estimate the theoretical model. An empirical analysis of the commodity chain for coffee from a single origin in a time series framework is not possible due to data limitations. Instead eight price series are used. These are producer 12 and export prices in Brazil and Colombia, import price of Brazilian coffee into the US, import unit value of (all) coffee in the US, the world price and the US retail price of coffee. Given the non-stationarity of the time series used to estimate the model, a vector error correction model (VECM) is appropriate.A VECM captures long-run paths of the series in the cointegrating vectors and short-run dynamics in the error correction equations. It is formulated as: ?y t = ?y t + ? 1? y t ? 1 + L + ? p ? 1? y t ? p +1 + ut , (40) where y t = ( ptG , B , ptG ,C , ptX , B , ptX ,C , ptM , B , ptW , ptM ,US , ptR , yt )? , ? is the loading vector of coefficients on error correction terms, ? is the coefficient vector for the cointegrating vector, ? j is the coefficient matrix on lag j and ut is the vector of error terms. ptG , j and ptX , j are respectively the producer and the export price in country j, where B is Brazil and C is Colombia. tM ,US ? B is the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US, ptM ,US is the import price of (all) coffee in the US, ptW is the wor ld price and ptR ,US is the retail price in the US. yt is relative income between consuming and producing countries and is used to avoid that the rank of ? = ? is not higher than the number of truly endogenous variables. According to the theoretical model national incomes have an impact on coffee prices, but coffee prices do not have an impact on national incomes. This is though not true for Brazil and Colombia for parts of the sample.Today Brazil and Colombia no longer rely heavily on export earnings from coffee (ICO, 2003) but historically this is not the case, and this analysis covers 1948-2004. Therefore, yt is treated as an endogenous variable. Sources for prices are as in Figure 1 above. World production of coffee is included as an exogenous variable. Source are Departamento Nacional do Cafe (1938, 1939/40), Deaton and Laroque (2003) and FAOSTAT online (2007). Real GDP are from Maddison (2007) and GGDC (2005) and the US CPI from BLS (2005a) has been used to reach nominal GDP. 13 To determine the stationarity properties of the series, unit root tests are carried out.It is pointed out by Morisset (1998) and Krivonos (2004) that coffee price responses may be asymmetric and we follow Enders and Granger (1998) and conduct unit root tests for variables which possibly adjust asymmetrically. The results are outlined in Table 1. [Table 1] All variables in Table 1 are expressed in natural logarithms. Lag-length is determined by the Akaike Information Criterium (AIC) and inclusion of a trend is decided from visual inspection of the series and the decision noted under â€Å"Trend† where â€Å"y† indicates that a trend is included and â€Å"n† that it is not.The F-statistic for the hypothesis that the series has a unit root shall be held up against the Enders and Granger (1998) critical value of 7. 07 when a trend and a constant are included in the regression and 5. 14 when only a constant is included. The results in Table 1 show that all series but world production have one unit root and hence are non-stationary and integrated of order one. The test statistic for the stationarity of world production is close to the 5% critical value by Enders and Granger (1998), so depending on significance level the series could also have been concluded to be nonstationary.It is not important to correctly identify the stationarity properties of world production, since the series is not an endogenous variable in the VECM and furthermore, it enters the model in first differences. No series adjusts asymmetrically according to this analysis, and asymmetries are disregarded when formulating the empirical model. Due to the possible impact from the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) a dummy variable, which takes the value one in the years the agreement was in place (1962 to 1989), is included. The ICA dummy is included in the short-run regressions because the ICA had an impact only on prices in the short run.In the long run quotas were adjust ed to meet market forces on supply and demand, but in the short run quotas stabilised coffee prices. 14 4. Results Before estimating the VECM in equation (40) the lag-length and the rank of the VECM are determined. Schwartz Information Criteria points at one lag and the AIC and the HannanQuinn Criteria point towards four. In the estimation process the model was first estimated with one lag and tests of the residuals indicated no problems regarding normality. There was no need to expand the number of lags and the model reported here has one lag.With one lag Johansens’s cointegration test gives the following rank of the VECM: [Table 2] Using the trace test, the hypothesis of rank one cannot be rejected, and from the maximum-eigenvalue test the hypothesis of no cointegration cannot be rejected. The test statistics are close to the 5% critical values which makes the decision regarding the rank of the matrix equivocal. The trace statistic for the hypothesis of one or less cointegr ating vectors is close to the critical value, but the test statistic for the hypothesis of rank three or less is clearly rejected.Therefore, according to the trace statistic there are one or two cointegrating vectors. Looking at the maximum-eigenvalue statistic, the test statistics and 5% critical values are relatively close until the hypothesis of three or less cointegrating vectors. Again, rank up to two is acceptable according to the test statistics. A model with two cointegrating vectors is preferred because this indicates seven trends among the nine variables and some variables share trends. 4. 1 Long-Run Equilibrium The preferred model has the following two estimated cointegrating vectors: 15 ptW = 0. 24 ptM ,US ? B + 0. 4 ptX ,C + 0. 15 ptX ,B + 0. 18 ptR ,US (2. 95) (2. 22) (2. 61) (4. 01) ? 0. 05 ptG ,B + 0. 34 ptG ,C ? 0. 28 yt ? 0. 00 t + 0. 43 (3. 58) (6. 35) (2. 86) (3. 76) ptG ,C = ? 0. 23 ptM ,US + 0. 10 ptM ,US ? B + 1. 05 ptX ,C + 0. 91 yt + 0. 01t + 1. 97 (5. 05) ( 0. 70) (5. 71) (5. 09) (41) (4. 51) (42) t-statistics are in parentheses under the parameter estimates. The first cointegrating vector, CIV1, in equation (41) represents the long-run equilibrium in the world market. The second cointegrating vector, CIV2, in equation (42) represents the long-run equilibrium between the two Colombian prices.The two cointegrating vectors are found by commencing with a general model with one cointegrating vector and all nine endogenous variables in this cointegrating vector. Insignificant variables in the cointegrating vector are removed sequentially. It is clear that the US import unit value is not significant in CIV1 and it is moved out to a second cointegrating vector. Other variables were included in CIV2 if they obtain significant coefficients in CIV2 or exhibit significant error correction. According to the first cointegrating vector, CIV1, six prices move together in the long run, and one moves opposite to this group.The world price, the import p rice of Brazilian coffee in the US, the export price in Brazil, the export unit value in Colombia, the US retail price and the Colombian producer price all move together in the long run. Five of the prices have roughly the same influence on the common path, but the world price, to which CIV1 is normalised, dominates through a higher coefficient (one). The Brazilian producer price moves in opposite direction to these six prices, but has a small coefficient in equation (41). The prediction of the theoretical model is that all prices should move together.Therefore, the coefficient on the Brazilian producer price contradicts the model, but the coefficient is small. 16 The second cointegrating vector, CIV2, shows Colombian prices (producer and export price) and the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US move together in the long run. It is clear that the two Colombian prices dominate the movements of the group of prices since the Colombian export price obtains an estimated coefficien t above one and CIV2 is normalised to the Colombian producer price.The import price of Brazilian coffee into the US is the least influential in the group since its estimated coefficient is 0. 10 and hence a tenth of the estimated coefficient on the Colombian prices. The import unit value of (all) coffee into the US enters CIV2 with a negative coefficient indicating that the Colombian prices and the import unit value of coffee in the US move in opposite directions to each other in the long run. As the Brazilian producer price in CIV1, this poses a challenge to the theoretical model which predicts that all prices should move together.However, the US import price and the Colombian producer price are far from each other in the coffee commodity chain and the coefficient is less than a quarter of the coefficient on the Colombian export unit value. Therefore, this coefficient, like the Brazilian producer price in CIV1 above, does not mean that the theoretical model is rejected, and prices are found to generally co-move in the long run. The coefficients on relative income are significant in both cointegrating vectors but have different signs. When relative income decreases, the six prices in CIV1 increase. In contrast, the three prices which co-move in CIV2 decrease.The effect of relative income on coffee prices in the long run are hence not clear from looking at the cointegration vectors. Technological progress, here modelled as a time trend, obtains estimated coefficients in the cointegrating vectors of the same sign as relative income. Technological progress hence moves the two groups of prices in different directions. Alternatively, if something else than technological progress is the reason for the coefficients on the time trend, something else makes the two groups of prices diverge over time. Over time the six prices in CIV1, which are 17 lose to the world market, move closer together. Opposite to this, the Colombian producer price moves away from the path of ot her prices in CIV2. 4. 2 Short-Run Dynamics The short-run structures show how the series adjust towards the long-run equilibria, and how the endogenous variables respond to shocks in exogenous variables. Error correction towards the two long-run equilibria happens according to the estimates in Table 3. [Table 3] Whether a variable error corrects and restores the long-run equilibrium between prices in a cointegrating vector is determined by looking at its sign in the cointegrating vector (the sign of ? and its sign in the loading matrix (the sign of ? ). If the combined sign is negative, the variable works towards restoring equilibrium. The two export prices, ptX ,C and ptX , B , and the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US, ptM ,US ? B , are the only variables which significantly adjust to disequilibrium between the variables in CIV1. These three prices work to restore an equilibrium which is dominated by the world price. The world price in contrast moves further away from t he equilibrium when a shock has created disequilibrium.The import price of Brazilian coffee into the US and the Colombian export price significantly adjust to disequilibrium between the prices in CIV2. Though the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US was not significant in determining the second long-run equilibrium (CIV2), it significantly works to restore it. The estimated parameters on the error correction term in the equations for the import unit value in the US, the Colombian producer price and relative income are not different from zero. This suggests that these variables do not 18 ork to restore the long-run relationship described by CIV2. The Colombian producer price is an important determinant of the equilibrium described by CIV2, but it does not adjust to restore this equilibrium. It thus influences other prices, but is itself not influenced by other prices. Relative income does not adjust to disequilibrium between the variables in CIV1 but its error correction towa rds the equilibrium described by CIV2 is significant on the 10% level. Relative income therefore works in part to restore the equilibrium between (among others) the Colombian prices in CIV2.This could show that any endogeneity of relative income is due to the importance of coffee prices for national income in Colombia. In addition to the error correction terms, the short-run equations include exogeneous variables. The four exogenous variables in the VECM are a constant (c), the dummy for the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) and the current and lagged first difference of world production of coffee, d(qt) and d(qt-1). The estimated coefficients on the exogeneous variables in the short-run regressions are presented in Table 4. [Table 4]None of the estimated constants in the short-run equations for prices are significantly different from zero. This suggests that time trends have been captured in the cointegrating vectors, but it is noticeable that the constant is positive and has hi gh t-statistics in the equations for the price of coffee imported into the US and the retail price in the US. This indicates that the prices, which have increased in an unexplained way, are prices in the US and that value added is largest further up in the coffee commodity chain. The constant is also positive with a high tstatistic in the short-run equation for the Colombian producer price.This could indicate that the attempts by the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia3 (FNC) to influence the prices of Colombian coffee have been successful. 19 The estimated coefficient on the ICA dummy is positive in the equation for relative income and in six equations for prices but negative in two equations for prices. However, it is never significant. The ICA increased six of the eight prices and it should be pointed out that the most significant, though not significant even at the 10% level, increases are for export prices and the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US.It was not producers which gained from ICA but rather exporters and importers of Brazilian coffee. So, there is weak evidence that while exporters benefited from the agreement the producers did not; the effects of the commodity agreement did not trickle down and reach them. First differences of world production and lagged world production enter with negative and significant signs in all regressions but one. This stresses the importance of production in determining prices in the short run. This is predicted by the theoretical model; increased production lowers price regardless of where in the chain the price is situated. . 3 Weak Exogeneity Tests of weak exogeneity are carried out to further test the driving forces in the system. A weakly exogenous variable has an impact on the long-run path of the variables of the system, but is not itself influenced by the variables in the system. The results from likelihood ratio tests are given in Table 5. [Table 5] In Table 5 the test statistics for the w orld price, the import unit value into the US, the Colombian export unit price, the US retail price and the two producer prices are lower than the 5% critical value, and the null hypothesis can not be rejected for these variables.These six prices are hence weakly exogenous. Agents at the ends of the chain, retailers, importers and producers, are hence not responding to deviations from the long-run equilibrium relationships between prices. As such, they are somewhat isolated from the world market. This is not 20 surprising since the price transmission literature asserts that the price determination happens in the world. Further up and down the chain other factors, such as market set-ups, intervention and incomes determine the prices.The hypothesis of weakly exogenous relative income is clearly rejected, indicating that it is correct to model income as endogenous in the system as discussed above. Also, the likelihood ratio test shows that the causality between prices and relative inco me is uncertain. Coffee prices and national incomes in Brazil and Colombia are interrelated. Coffee prices are important determinants of income in Brazil and Colombia, but national incomes also determine coffee prices. Regarding relative income it is clear that the results are equivocal.The coefficients in the cointegrating vectors obtained different signs and it may or may not be weakly exogenous according to the error correction coefficients and weak exogeneity tests. The final set of results which can shed light on the effect which relative income has on prices, is impulse response functions. They were estimated for the VECM and show that relative income has a negative impact on all eight coffee prices and hence that a decreasing income gap between producing and consuming countries increases coffee prices. 5. DiscussionRegarding the central question of what determines the value added at each stage of the commodity chain, it can be concluded that the prices definitely determine ea ch other, and that from outside the system of prices quantity has a large impact, but only in the short run. In the long run, relative income has an effect on all prices, and a closing income gap between producers and consumers increases prices. In addition, prices move in response to changes in technological progress. In this concluding section four overall conclusions are drawn. The first is of how the prices influence each other.The second is of how relative income impacts prices. The third is 21 of how production influences prices. And last how the time trend, which represents technology, influences prices. It is of utmost importance to determine which prices are detached from the chain. The theoretical model predicts positive correlation between the prices and this is generally found in the empirical model both by long-run co-movements and by adjustments to restore the long-run equilibria in the short run. Both CIV1 and CIV2 show co-movement among prices, but the VECM is estima ted with two cointegrating vectors.This indicates that there may be a break in the coffee commodity chain since one group of prices moves together in one manner while the other group moves in a different manner in the long run. The world market prices in CIV1 move together but the Colombian prices in CIV2 do not follow their movement, and the Colombian prices may be detached from other prices, possibly due to FNC. Since the Brazilian producer price is not significant in CIV2 and moves against the other prices in CIV1 it can be said to also be detached from the value chain.The error correction properties of the system and the weak exogeneity tests show that prices in the middle of the chain work to restore the two long-run equilibria. The prices at the ends of the chain, the producer prices and the retail price, and the dominating world price do not error correct. The lack of error correction by the prices at the ends of the chain indicates that they are not influenced by the long-ru n paths and points at breaks in the coffee commodity chain.The empirical results suggest that the world market is characterized by close linkages between prices but retail price and producer prices are less integrated with other prices. This finding may support the arguments made by the price transmission literature. The limited trickle down of price signals to producer prices confirm the findings of Fitter and Kaplinsky (2001) and Ponte (2002) who argue that surplus created along the chain falls on agents further up the chain, and not on producers. The discussion of intervention and integration in the 22 ransmission literature (Baffes and Gardner, 2003; Hazell et al, 1990; Krivonos, 2004; Mundlak and Larson, 1992) explain why the Colombian producer price and export price, which have experienced considerable intervention by FNC, are detached from other prices. It is not possible to reach an unequivocal conclusion regarding the impact of relative income by looking at the cointegratin g vectors, short-run dynamics or weak exogeneity tests. It is concluded that decreasing income gap increases prices in the world market, whereas it decreases the Colombian producer price.The negative relationship between relative income and all eight prices found by the impulse response functions confirms the expected signs of the coefficients on income in market one and two. The negative relationship between relative income and prices extends to market three. However, since income in consuming countries occurs in the numerator of relative income, relative income should obtain a positive coefficient if the hypothesis of decreasing importance of labour along the coffee commodity chain is confirmed. A negative ? c3 in equation (36) suggests that the roasting sector relies more on labour than the importing ector, in light of the discussion of equation (35) above. Income’s significance in the determination of producer prices, both in the theoretical and the empirical model, offer s support for the terms of trade literature, where prices are determined by underlying macroeconomic factors. Relative income also helps explain divergence of producer and retail prices as these prices reflect relative overall economic performance of producer countries compared to consuming countries. The theoretical model predicts that there is a negative relationship between prices and production. This is fully supported by the empirical model.The negative and significant coefficients on the differences of world production show that it could be the supply curves which shift outwards and create the decreasing prices. 23 According to the theoretical model the sign on the time trend (technological progress) is unknown and depends on whether the supplier or the demander in a given market experiences the most significant technological innovations. The negative sign of the estimated coefficient on the time trend in CIV1 shows that the prices in CIV1 move closer together over time than w hat is explained by relative income.Technological progress can be the explanation for this. A negative sign indicates that the technological progress is largest for the supplying parties in markets one, two and three and/or the negative sign of d 5 is confirmed. The latter case is particularly neat since CIV2, which holds a positive time trend, does not contain the US retail price, and the different signs of the time trend in the cointegrating vectors are not conflicting. They are not conflicting because in CIV1, which describes all four markets, d 5 causes a negative time trend.In CIV2, which describes market one, two and three, a5 , b5 and c5 represent relatively bigger technological progress by demanders which creates a positive time trend. A positive time trend could occur in market one, two and three in the theoretical model if the technological progress is largest for the demanding parties in these three markets. This development is not unlikely in the coffee commodity chain i f agents along the chain become more able to improve their production methods (technological progress) because they become wealthier either through market power and/or the value they add to coffee.This hypothesis can however not be tested with the data used for this analysis, but touches on the discussion in Ponte (2002). Therefore, the positive time trend in CIV2 could be capturing technological progress or some factor not included in the model that coincides with the passing of time. Market power and bargaining power are examples of unmodelled variables in the VECM. The almost significant positive constants in the regressions of US prices show that US import and retail prices tend to increase more than other prices.This could capture the mark24 up, m in (37). The negative constant in the short-run regression for the Brazilian export price could be caused by the coffee commodity chain being a trader-driven commodity chain, as argued by Talbot (2002), where international traders tra de large amounts of coffee with very little margin. Looking at the value chain for Brazil in Figure 1 confirms this, since the value added at the exporting stage, which is denoted processing and transport in Brazil, reduces to almost zero after 1990.It is no coincidence that this is the year after the breakdown of ICA, and it is also argued by Ponte (2002) that this event changed the power relations along the coffee commodity chain. The empirical model gives some insight into issues which are not explicitly modelled in the theoretical model. The theoretical model did not predict which prices would be dominating and which would be adjusting to movements in other prices. However, it is found that the world price is dominating and the export prices are responding.Boratav (2001) found that the ratio between world price and export unit value was stable, and the analysis here can extend the conclusion by suggesting that the export prices follow the world price. If the aim is to create a m ore equal income distribution among agents in the global coffee commodity, this analysis offers some insights of policies to achieve this. Income levels in coffee-producing countries are important determinants of the coffee prices and low national incomes pull coffee prices down even though the retail and import price in consuming countries might increase.Unless the general income level in producing countries increases increased income in consuming countries will not trickle down to the coffee farmers. Alternatively the structure of the chain can be changed and an income distribution more favourable for coffee farmers could be achieved. At the international level the International Coffee Agreement increased coffee prices, but more so export and import prices than producer prices. If the aim is to benefit those in the global coffee commodity chain who has the least – the farmers – an international agreement is 5 hence not the most efficient tool. Improved technology for farmers and increases bargaining power are other factors which would redistribute value within the commodity chain. Producer and retail prices which are detached from the world market, technological progress mainly by demanding parties in the chain and increasing mark-ups (or market or bargaining power) in consuming countries are all findings which support the idea by Darity and Davis (2005) to bring Karl Marx back into the picture.Though international commodity agreements, producer cartels and attempts to change the structures of the centre and periphery are not policies currently in vogue, it may be useful to keep them in mind when engaging in the world coffee market. 26 Value Chain for Brazil 1950 1960 1970 1980 year 1990 2000 20 0 40 20 40 % 60 % 60 80 80 100 100 Value Chain for Colombia 1950 Processing in US International processing and transport Processing and transport in Brazil Brazilian producer's share 1960 1970 1980 year 1990 2000 Processing in US and transportProcessing and transport in Colombia Colombian producer's share Fig. 1. Distribution of the Coffee Dollar along the Commodity Chain. Sources: Brazilian and Colombian producer prices: FAO (various years), FAOSTAT (2006) and ICO (2005). Export and import unit values: FAOSTAT online (2006) and U. S. Department of Commerce: Bureau of the Census (1989). Wholesale prices for Brazil: IFS (various years). US Retail prices: BLS (2005b). 27 Table 1. Asymmetric Unit Root Tests n 1 pW n 1 pM,B-US n 1 pM,US n 1 pR,US y y# 8 4 0 0. 19 0. 33 0 1 3 1 0. 2 0. 48 4 1 3 0. 66 0. 78 2 6 3 0. 65 0. 55 4 6 6 0. 31 0. 99 6 0 5 0 0. 99 0. 99 0 2 5 4 0. 37 0. 07 1 8 n 0. 99 0. 99 3 3 0. 00 0. 97 5 3 0. 98 0. 87 0 3 0. 52 0. 89 4 3 0. 42 0. 69 2 0 0. 22 0. 90 9 1 0. 55 0. 89 5 1 0. 93 0. 92 5 8 0. 75 0. 60 25. 499 1 1 I(1) symm . . . . I(0) symm 1 26. 032 0. 38 0. 00 I(1) symm 0 # Unit Root 5 0 8. 87 q y 4 Bartlett’s White Noise pX,C Asymmetric Adjustment 1 0. 97 Lags Lags n 0. 95 0. 32 pX,B 0. 59 0. 53 1 8 1. 21 n 1 0. 15 pG,C 0 1. 31 1 0. 99 2. 62 n 0. 19 0. 19 Trend 1. 80 pG,B Bartlett’s WhiteNoise s Asymmetric Adjustment Conclusion Unit Root Analysis of Series in Levels Analysis of Series in 1st Differences Series 29. 849 26. 732 28. 028 0 0 0 # 28. 842 32. 509 27. 076 29. 196 I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm 28 5 5 4 ## 1 6 â€Å"Unit Root† contains the F-statistic for the hypothesis that the series has a unit root. â€Å"Asymmetric Adjustment† contains the p-value for the hypothesis of symmetry. â€Å"Bartlett's White Noise† contains the p-value from Bartlett's periodogram-based test for white noise.The null is that the error terms are white noise. # indicates that the lag-length selected by AIC did not result in white noise residuals and increasing the laglength did not amend the problem and the lag-length was hence decreased until the indicated number of lags. ## indicates that residuals from the regressions with the first difference of relative income fail Bartlett's periodogram-based test for white noise regardless of variations of the number of lags and the lag-length is chosen by AIC. Table 2.Rank for VECM(1) with nominal prices and relative income Trace Test Maximum-Eigenvalue Test 5% 5% Test Critical Hypothesized Test Critical No. of CE(s) Statistic Value Prob. * Statistic Value Prob. * None 232. 686 228. 298 0. 031 49. 706 62. 752 0. 486 At most 1 182. 980 187. 470 0. 083 46. 246 56. 705 0. 367 At most 2 136. 734 150. 559 0. 230 36. 528 50. 600 0. 617 At most 3 100. 206 117. 708 0. 372 31. 817 44. 497 0. 570 At most 4 68. 389 88. 804 0. 570 21. 460 38. 331 0. 885 At most 5 46. 929 63. 876 0. 556 19. 020 32. 118 0. 728 At most 6 27. 909 2. 915 0. 628 13. 839 25. 823 0. 736 At most 7 14. 070 25. 872 0. 652 8. 642 19. 387 0. 761 At most 8 5. 428 12. 518 0. 536 5. 428 12. 518 0. 536 Trace test indicates 1 cointegrating equation at the 5% level. Max-eigenvalue test indicates no cointegration at the 5% level. * MacKinnon-Haug-Michelis (1999) p-values. 29 30 Table 3. Error Correction Parameters ? pW 2. 04 pM, US 0. 52 pM,US3. 68 pX,C 2. 33 pX,B 4. 20 pR,US 0. 99 pG,B 1. 73 pG,C 0. 96 y -0. 16 CIV1 (1. 64) (0. 44) (2. 92) (2. 09) (3. 04) (1. 59) (0. 94) (1. 11) (0. 97) EC ? N 0. 99 Y 0. 07

History Story Teaches Us That History Teaches Nothing: Discuss Essay

1.0 INTRODUCTION All human cultures tell stories about the past, deeds of ancestors, heroes, gods, or animals. Songs sacred to particular peoples were chanted and memorized long before there was any writing with which to record them. Their truth was authenticated by the very fact of their continued repetition. History which can be considered as an account that purports to be true of events and ways of thinking and feeling in some part of the human past stems from this archetypal human narrative activity. While sharing a common ancestry with myth, legend, epic poetry, and the novel, history has of course diverged from these forms. Its claim to truth is based in part on the fact that all the persons or events it describes really existed or occurred at some time in the past. Historians can say nothing about these persons or events that cannot be supported, or at least suggested, by some kind of documentary evidence. Such evidence customarily takes the form of something written, such as a letter, a law, an administrative record, or the account of some previous historian. In addition, historians sometimes create their own evidence by interviewing people. In the 20th century, the scope of historical evidence was greatly expanded to include, inter alia, aerial photographs, clothes, motion pictures, and houses etc. Furthermore, all developed countries have their National Archives. This is in recognition of the simple fact that knowledge of the past is essential to society. What happens in the present, and what will happen in the future, is very much governed by what happened in the past. Without a thorough knowledge of past events and circumstances, we could not even attempt to grapple with these problems. Without knowledge of the past we would be without identity, we would be lost on an endless sea of time. However, it is obvious that knowledge of the past has not brought easy solutions to problems in, say, Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe, Palestine or even other parts of the world. Notwithstanding the fact that history is paramount in any society and in fact a necessary ingredient for its growth, but many practical facts staring us at the face have shown that people learn from  history that they do not learn from history. Thus, I would like to support and defend the assertion that ‘history teaches us that history teaches nothing’. But before delving into this argumentative cum intellectual excursus, I would like to clarify the term ‘History’ and ‘Why people study history’ 2.0 WHAT IS HISTORY? Etymologically, the term ‘history’ is from the Greek word ‘á ¼ ±ÃÆ'Ï„Î ¿Ã ÃŽ ¯ÃŽ ±Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ – historia, meaning â€Å"inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation†. It was still in this Greek sense that Francis Bacon used the term in the late 16th century, when he wrote about â€Å"Natural History†. For him, history is â€Å"the knowledge of objects determined by space and time†. History is the study of the past, specifically how it relates to humans. It is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians whereas the events occurring prior to written record were considered prehistory. By â€Å"prehistory†, historians mean the recovery of knowledge of the past in an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. By studying painti ng, drawings, carvings, and other artefacts, some information can be recovered even in the absence of a written record. Since the 20th century, the study of prehistory is considered essential to avoid history’s implicit exclusion of certain civilizations, such as those of Sub-Saharan Africa and pre-Columbian America. In 1961, British historian E. H. Carr wrote; ‘the line of demarcation between prehistoric and historical times is crossed when people cease to live only in the present, and become consciously interested both in their past and in their future. History begins with the handing down of tradition; and tradition means the carrying of the habits and lessons of the past into the future. Records of the past begin to be kept for the benefit of future generations’1 Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484 BC – 425 BC) has generally been acclaimed as the â€Å"father of history†. However, his contemporary Thucydides (460 BC – 400 BC) is credited with having first approached history with a well-developed historical method in his work ‘the History of the Peloponnesian War’. In his historical method, Thucydides emphasized chronology, a neutral point of view, and that the human world was  the result of the actions of human beings. Greek historians also viewed history as cyclical, with events regularly recurring. Suffice to say that the word ‘history’ entered the English language in 1390 with the meaning of â€Å"relation of incidents or story†. Professor Richard J. Evans defines histo ry as an academic discipline which uses a narrative to examine and analyse a sequence of past events, and objectively determine the patterns of cause and effect that determine them. According to Professor Arthur Marwick in his article titled ‘The Fundamentals of History’, history is ‘the bodies of knowledge about the past produced by historians, together with everything that is involved in the production, communication of, and teaching about that knowledge’.3 In E. H. Carr’s ‘What Is History? Carr draws on sources from Nietzsche to Herodotus to argue for a more subtle definition of history as ‘an unending dialogue between the present and the past’.4 No wonder, Whitney says that history is facilitated by the formation of a ‘true discourse of past’5 through the production of narrative and analysis of past events relating to the human race. History is the analysis and interpretation of the human past that enables us to study continuity and change over time. It is an act of both investigation and imagination that seeks to explain how people have changed over time. Historians use all forms of evidence t o examine, interpret, revisit, and reinterpret the past. These include not just written documents, but also oral communication and objects such as buildings, artefacts, photographs, and paintings. Historians are trained in the methods of discovering and evaluating these sources, and the challenging task of making historical sense out of them, that is to say they are aesthetically disinterested in their approach to events. According to Encarta electronic dictionary, history is ‘a chronological account of past events, it is the branch of knowledge that records and analyses past events’6. More so, Encyclopaedia Britannica defines history as ‘the discipline that studies the chronological record of events (as affecting a nation or people), based on a critical examination of source materials and usually presenting an explanation of their causes’7. Understanding why historic events took place is important. To do this, historians often turn to geography. Weather patterns, the water supply, and the landscape of a place all affect the lives of the people who  live there. For example, to explain why the ancient Egyptians developed a successful civilization, st udying the geography of Egypt is essential. At this juncture, it is paramount to say that the writing of history, especially the writing of history based on the critical examination of sources, the selection of particular details from the authentic materials in those sources, and the synthesis of those details into a narrative that stands the test of critical examination is known as Historiography. 3.0 WHY THEN DO PEOPLE STUDY HISTORY? From my own personal observation, it does occur to me that people explore the field of history for myriads of reasons which are: History is a means to understand the past and present. The different interpretations of the past allow us to see the present differently and therefore imagine and work towards the future. Through the study of history we can investigate and interpret why society developed as it has and determine what influences have affected the past and present and shape the future. It helps one to understand the immense complexity of our world and provides insights to help cope with the problems and possibilities of the present and future. History also provides a sense of identity to understand the collective past that has made us what we are today. The way in which people identify and interact with one another is by and large a consequence of history, which shapes and conditions individuals and societies whether they fully understand it or not, relationship between differ ent ethnic groups in Nigeria can testify clearly to this. History is also a bridge to other disciplines. In order to understand the other humanities and sciences one needs a historical overview. Writers, artists, scientists, politicians, philosophers etc. are all conditioned by the historical milieu in which they lived. Historical knowledge is a prerequisite for understanding the world in which we live. History is magister vitae, â€Å"teacher of life.† History prepares us to live more humanely in the present and to meet the challenges of the future because it provides us with understanding of the human condition. Despite these reasons why people study history, it becomes disheartening to see that these reasons do not readily translate into practice considering what is on ground in the  world. Hence, one can say without any fear of equivocation or ambiguity that ‘history teaches us that history teaches nothing’. To explicate this standpoint further, I would like to delineate in a jiffy the essential factors to be consi dered in history, from there I would showcase why history teaches us that history teaches nothing. 3.1 ESSENTIAL FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHY STUDYING HISTORY These are; Persons, ( personal element ), Time element, Event, Place, Circumstance, People’s reaction or Effects, Post Reactions and the Lessons. It is from the standpoint of lessons meant to be learnt from history that I would defend the assertion that ‘history teaches us that history teaches nothing’. 4.0 HISTORY TEACHES US THAT HISTORY TEACHES NOTHING: USING NIGERIA AS A CASE STUDY. Having explained the concept of history and why we study history, the problems that stare us at face are; how has the knowledge of the past positively influenced the present day society? To what extent is the history affecting the lives of people? Why is it that people, nations, continents etc. repeat the same mistake of the past? Does it mean that history has no positive influence on human development or that people have blatantly refused to learn from history? No wonder the prestigious German Philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in his lectures on the philosophy of history said; â€Å"What experience and history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it†¦ We learn from history that we do not learn from history†¦ [Hence] History teaches that history teaches us nothing. If we go on to cast a look at the f ate of the world historical personalities†¦ we shall find it to have been no happy one. They attained no calm enjoyment; their whole nature was labour and trouble; their whole nature was nothing but their master’s passion. When their object is attained they fall off like empty hulls from the kernel† To expatiate on this assertion that history teaches us that history teaches nothing, I would like to use Nigeria as a case study because I am more familiar with Nigerian history. Before delving into this intellectual discuss, I would like to posit certain questions: What is the percentage of Nigerians that are productively engaged? How many of them can  pay their bills? Education is one factor that can lift the fortunes of a nation overnight: as it is today, what is the percentage of the population that attain school till tertiary institution? What percentage of the population can afford the fees for their education? What has the government done to entrenched unity rather than ethnicity? Why has the government being unable to address these nagging issues? The most suitable answer to these interrogatives is that the government has failed to learn from history. In fact, the history of Nigeria has taught nothing to the government of this country considering what is on ground. The blame is mostly shifted to the government because as Achebe wrote in his book, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, the problem of Nigeria is that of leadership. Let me succinctly delineate and expatiate on this assertion that history teaches us that history teaches nothing with some major events that have taken place in Nigeria. To be more precise, I hold the opinion that we have been stagnant in a lot of ways, we have degenerated in so many more ways while very little, if any progress, has been made in our march to meaningful nationhood. A key reason for our lacklustre performance at nation-building as Soyinka prescribes in the Dance of the Forest is the failure to draw lessons from the past at every turn in our history. That is an enterprise in which Nigeria still fails woefully. Hear what I read in one of the National Dailies that Chief Obafemi Awolowo, one of the active participants in the move towards independence, said in a speech he delivered on the floor of the House of Representatives in Lagos on March 31, 1953; â€Å"†¦It has been customary for our friends from the North to threaten the rest of Nigeria with secession if this is done or if that is not done†¦ We find the northern majority is not only being used (by the colonialists, I presume) in having their way, but it is also being used in preventing the minority from having their say†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Such was the suspicion and distrust that existed amongst major ethnic nationalities in the country at the attainment of independence. This suspicion eventually led to many coups like that of; 15th January 1966 Nigeria Major Kaduna Nzeogwu which led to the death of many including Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the then prime minister, 29th July 1966, a bloody coup led by Col. Yakubu Gowon, whichà ‚  claimed the life of Major General JTU Aguyi Ironsi and many others, 29th July 1975, by General Murtala Mohammed against General Yakubu Gowon and was successful, 13th February 1976, by Col. Dinka which resulted to the death of the then Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, 31st December 1983, by Major General Ibrahim B. Buhari against Alhaji Shehu Shagari took place and was successful, 27th August 1985, by Major General Ibrahim B. Babangida against General Buhari. This suspicion also led to the civil war in which millions of lives were lost. Now, has Nigeria learnt anything from these? I think, NO. This is because, fifty three years old, national integration is still abysmal in Nigeria. There are verbal missiles across the country by individuals who desire to promote the interest of their ethnic groups, all of them fanning the embers of strife and war. Ethnic militias exist in almost different parts of the country threatening the lives and existence of those who do not share their ethnic or religious pedigree. Many Nigerians especially Southerners have lost their lives due to Boko Haram insurgency. This was a kind of situation which made Ojukwu to declare the Republic of Biafra due the massacre of the Igbos in the North. This declaration later led to civil war. We have even seen the â€Å"deportation† of hapless Nigerians from one state to the other and the attendant emotional outbursts that followed it. In fact, Nigeria has failed woefully to learn from history because the lessons of history are never applied to better the life of her citizenry. At the moment, seven gov ernors elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are on do or die mission to get a politician of northern extraction into the office of president come 2015. To them, it does not matter that the north had held that position for 37 out of Nigeria’s 53 years of independence, and that the region in particular and the nation in general, has nothing to show for it, all they are interested in is that the next President is from the North. To drive home the urgency of their desire, some of their supporters have actually threatened that Nigeria would be history if this pet project failed. Are these politicians unable to learn from history that born to rule mentality is a cankerworm that has threatened the fabrics of nationhood? Legendary writer, Chinua Achebe in his celebrated book, The Trouble with Nigeria once said: â€Å"But whereas tribalism might win  enough votes to install a reactionary jingoist in a tribal ghetto, the cult of mediocrity will bring the wheels of modernisation grinding to a halt throughout the land† That is the state of affairs in Nigeria currently. It is as bad as for past and present leaders in the country to brazenly tell the world that Nigeria’s major challenge is the lack of honest and dedicated leadership even as none of them has the nobility to plead guilty of the charge. This plague of bad leadership accounts for the frustrating level of ineptitude that we have in all areas of our national life. It seems to me that a cloud of cluelessness has descended on Nigeria over the years. Corruption in particular is one vice in which Nigeria has grown in leaps and bounds over the years. If there were pockets of corrupt practices in the country at the attainment of independence, Nigeria has within the last 53 years grown corruption to the extent that it has literarily acquired a life of its own. This has almost brought the nation to its knees with the resultant collapse of the middle class and the gap between the rich and the poor widening by the day. This means that Nigerian leaders in all sectors of life have failed to learn from history that corruptive practices retard the development of a nation and the excessive gap between the rich and poor can make the poor people to start a revolt against the rich. More still, agriculture which was the mainstay of the country’s economy up until the end of the First Republic has taken the back burner no thanks to the seeming ease with which petro-dollars have come to us since the oil boom in the 1970s. As Nigeria’s oil prospect increased, political leaders found more money to siphon or launder even as they neglect to sustain the structures which made life meaningful for the citizenry. Today, life is almost unbearable for the average Nigerian. Nigerian leaders seem to forget that it was this kind of atmosphere that ushered in the French revolution. Nigeria has not learnt from history. Hence, from this exposition of Nigerian experience, I continue to maintain that history teaches us that history teaches nothing because people have failed to learn from the lessons of history. 5.0 EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION Some may tend to argue that defending the idea that history teaches us that history teaches nothing is already affirming that history teaches something  because being aware that history teaches nothing is already learning something from history. Remember, the premise of my argument is that history teaches us that history teaches nothing, put in another way; we learn from history that we do not learn from history. This points to the fact that people and nations have failed woefully to apply the lessons of history to promote human well-fare. Thus, Hegel is right when he maintained that we learn very little from history in a global sense. Therefore, history teaches us nothing if we fail to observe the past, ask appropriate questions and learn from the lessons of history. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 Carr, Edward H. (1961). What is History? p.108 2 Evans, Richard J. â€Å"The Two Faces of E.H. Carr†. History In Focus. An article published by Palgrave, 2001. 3 Marwick, Arthur ‘The Nature of History’ The MacMillian Press LTD. pg. 169, 1970. 4 Professor Arthur Marwick in his article titled ‘The Fundamentals of History’ In E. H. Carr’s ‘What Is History? 5 Whitney, W. D. The Century dictionary; an encyclopaedic lexicon of English language. New York: The Century Co, 1889. 6 Encarta Microsoft Electronic Dictionary 2010 edition 7 Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, 2011. 8 Hegel’s Lectures on Philosophy of History which was assessed online on the 3rd of November, 2013. 9 Achebe, Chinua. The Trouble with Nigeria, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishing. Co. Ltd.Reprinted 1998. Print.

Atonemnet essays

Atonemnet essays Ian McEwan`s novel is a dark, sleek trap of a book. Lying is, after all, what atonement is about as much as it is about guilt, penitence, or, for that matter, art. Through out the novel, Atonement, it is seen that characters lie to themselves and to other, thus they are guilt stricken and feel the need for atonement. The concepts of fact vs fiction, and truth vs lies are thoroughly explored in this novel. Each character is unique yet they all share one common trait, the ability to lie to ones self and to others. We see throughout the novel that lying is an explored theme. Briony the main and first character introduced to us is very imaginative. She is often caught between reality and imagination, and eventually this leads to the downfall of another character. Her imagination blinds her sense of reality and she begins to believe what she thinks she sees. Emily Tallis is a character, which believes her own lies. She lies to herself about the fact that Jack Tallis, her husband, has left her and is having an affair. She believes that her husband will one day come back home, when in actual fact he has no intention of returning. She feels that by lying to herself she can obstruct reality and she will not have to face the harsh reality of being alone. There are feelings between Robbie Turner and Cecilia Tallis, yet they choose to lie to themselves and banish any feeling there may be. Until eventually they can no longer hide their feeling and they become apparent, although misinterpreted by Briony. Lola longs to be seen as an adult and she feels that by lying to herself she will be able to convince those around her of her maturity. When Paul Marshal addresses the twins she interrupts saying then Ill thank you not to talk about them in front of the children. By saying this she feels more mature and hopes that others will accept her lie and notice her mature behavior. ...

A Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay Essay Example

A Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay Essay Example A Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay Essay A Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay Essay The construct of household individuality can be defined as a household s subjective apprehension of world based on shared beliefs and experiences that determine how single members interact and associate to each other and the universe outside the household ( Bennett, Wolin, McAvity, 1988 ) . Throughout my childhood my household had two individualities: a public individuality that was shaped by social outlooks and norms, and a private individuality that was governed by the alone demands and issues that plagued our household life. From a public position we were a traditional in-between category household complete with a married twosome, three kids, and two Canis familiariss. We lived in a modest but nice place in a suburban community, my sisters and I attended private schools, and we were financially unafraid. However, few people were cognizant of the struggle, pandemonium, and maltreatment that occurred behind closed doors within our place. Our private individuality, characterized by d ysfunctional behaviours and interactions that occurred between assorted members of the household, told a really different narrative. The construction or organisation of my household based on forms of interactions, subsystems, and boundaries is of import in understanding the kineticss within my household of beginning ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . The genogram, or household diagram, provided in the appendix illustrates a multigenerational position of construction and relationships within my drawn-out household ( Bowen, 1978 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . However, for the intent of this paper I will concentrate on the construction of my household of beginning. My household consists of my male parent, Gerald, my female parent, Alma, and three kids: Michelle, the eldest, Jennifer, the in-between kid, and myself the youngest kid. Our household construction was governed by familial functions, regulations, and outlooks ( Nichols, 2011 ) . My male parent held the function of fiscal supplier within the household. His duty was to guarantee that the household had fiscal security. My female parent maintained the function of health professional and leader. She was the materfamilias of the household and was charged with the undertaking of keeping every facet of the place and household. My oldest sister was the whipping boy and defender within the household. Family issues were frequently projected onto her coercing her to take duty and incrimination for household disfunction ( Shulman, 2006 ) . She besides held the function of defender within the sibling subsystem, and often shielded my in-between sister and I from danger and injury within and outside the place. My in-between sister was the quiet member and theoretical account kid of the household. She is inactive and seldom expressed sentiments sing household issues, and ever made an effort to fulfill familial outlooks and demands ( Shulman, 2006 ) . As the youngest kid, I played the function of gatekeeper within the household. My end as the gatekeeper was to utilize my humor and wit to assist the household return to a province of homeostasis by easing tensene ss and reconstructing composure and peace within the household ( Shulman, 2006 ) . My household was besides governed by a set of explicit and implicit regulations and outlooks ( Nichols, 2011 ) . Explicit regulations and outlooks consisted of good behaviour, high academic accomplishment, and the completion of assorted jobs and responsibilities within the family. Implicit regulations helped strengthen household secrets and included maintaining household issues private, and prohibiting household members to discourse or admit the disfunction within the household. Additionally, my household operated as a closed system with stiff boundaries restricting input from outside beginnings ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . We were non unfastened or welcoming to outside influences and support ; instead, we internalized familial issues and jobs. My female parent s mental unwellness complicated household kineticss and contributed to the pathology within the place. My female parent has Borderline Personality Disorder which made her a polarising presence within our place due to her frequent tantrums of fury and unstable mental wellness ( Nichols, 2011 ) . Therefore, the household s attending and energy was chiefly focused on my female parent and her demands ( Nichols, 2011 ) . My female parent would often displace her choler and fury onto my sisters and I in the signifier of physical and emotional maltreatment. Her behaviour affected relationships, boundaries, and fond regard forms within the household as illustrated in the household genogram. My female parent exhibited an anxious-ambivalent fond regard to my male parent due to her at hand fright of forsaking ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . She urgently desired my male parent s love and attending, but would act in ways that created struggle and pandemonium within the matrimo nial subsystem ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . As a consequence, my male parent developed an anxious-avoidant fond regard to my female parent, which resulted in him making a stiff boundary within the matrimonial subsystem in order to protect and distance himself from my female parent s choler and attendant feelings of helpless and defeat ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My parents were involved in a cyclical pursuer-distancer form of interaction that resulted in my male parent s detachment within the matrimonial subsystem ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . The kineticss, boundaries, and fond regards between the parental and kid subsystems were every bit complicated. The relationship between my female parent and my oldest sister was filled with struggle and tenseness. My female parent was exceptionally opprobrious to my oldest sister which resulted in the constitution of disorganised fond regard ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My oldest sister perceived my female parent as terrorization ; yet, she urgently desired nurturance from my female parent and fluctuated between distancing herself from my female parent and urgently seeking comfort and security ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My oldest sister and my female parent were psychologically and emotionally entwined or fused with one another despite old ages of maltreatment ( Bowen, 1978 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My in-between sister established an anxious-avoidant fond regard with my female parent ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . As a kid, my in-between sister seldom sought aid, counse l, or comfort from my female parent as a consequence of the maltreatment she endured and my female parent s inability to adequately turn to her demands for safety and comfort ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . I established an anxious-ambivalent fond regard to my female parent in which I urgently depended on her for emotional support and encouragement despite her maltreatment, but seldom received equal comfort and nurturance ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My sisters and I have an anxious-avoidant fond regard with my male parent as a consequence of his inability to systematically supply us with comfort and safety in response to my female parent s maltreatment ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . The household kineticss, nevertheless, strengthened the sibling subsystem. My sisters and I have a secure fond regard and are able to trust on each other for support, comfort, and nurturance in the face of hardship ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Culture and ethnicity besides played an built-in function in my household individuality and kineticss. My parents are first coevals Mexicanos and were raised in households that emphasized traditional Mexican cultural values and beliefs including a strong committedness to household, regard, trust, and faith ( Rothman, Gant, Hnat, 1985 ) . However, my parents raised my sisters and I in a bi-cultural environment that incorporated assorted facets of American and Mexican civilization and traditions. My parents emphasized trust, regard, and committedness within the household, but they besides introduced American linguistic communication, nutrient, jubilations, and values including a focal point on individualism, privateness, and accomplishment ( Rothman et al. , 1985 ; Beane, 2011 ) . Additionally, contrary to traditional Mexican civilization, there was a stronger accent on immediate instead than extended household ( Rothman et al. , 1985 ) . Religion was besides an of import cultural face t of our lives. My household is Catholic and placed a strong accent on spiritual beliefs and rites such as praying before repasts and go toing church together every Sunday. Family Crisis/Transition In June of 1992 my household, as we knew it, changed everlastingly. My male parent left our place without any anterior notice or treatment and filed for divorce from my female parent. His abrupt and unforeseen going from our place left every household member fighting with feelings of daze, confusion, contempt, choler, and anxiousness. The initial stage of the divorce procedure is identified as the most nerve-racking clip for a household due to the alterations in household construction as a consequence of the absence of a parent, and subsequent force per unit areas and demands for household members to take on new functions and duties ( Cooper, McLanahan, Meadows, Brooks-Gunn, 2009 ; Kelly A ; Emery, 2003 ) . Additionally, households frequently experience important alterations in socioeconomic, societal, and wellness resources as the consequence of a divorce that frequently increases the degree of emphasis within a household and complicates the header and version procedure ( Cooper et al. , 2009, p. 559 ; Kelly A ; Emery, 2003 ) . Harmonizing to the ABC-X Model of Family Crisis, a household s ability to set and get by with passages and crises is based on the interaction of the undermentioned variables: A-the state of affairs or stressor event, B-available resources, C-the household s perceptual experience of the event, and X-the grade of emphasis or crisis experienced by a household ( McKenry A ; Price, 1994 ) . Let us now apply the ABC-X Model of Family Crisis to analyse my household s initial response to the nerve-racking passage of my parents divorce. The stressor confronting my household was the separation, and subsequent divorce, of my parents which left the household in a province of hurt and significantly altered our household individuality, construction, kineticss, and operation. My male parent s absence resulted in important fiscal adversity for the household, which forced my female parent to come in the work force and take on the new and unfamiliar function of fiscal supplier. The duty and demands of this new function affected my female parent s ability to keep her health professional function within the household. As a consequence, my sisters and I had to take on many of her duties within the place. Initially, my oldest sister took on the function of health professional in my female parent s absence. However, my oldest sister left for college shortly after my male parent s going which resulted in important alterations to the sibling subsystem and farther complicated our household s ability to accommodate and get by. My in- between sister was forced to abandon her usual function as the quiet member, and presume the function of defender and health professional. This new function placed a great trade of force per unit area on my in-between sister and changed the moral force within the new sibling couple by increasing tenseness. Additionally, I was no longer able to successfully ease household tenseness and pandemonium as the gatekeeper, and assumed the new function of assisting my in-between sister maintain the family. The divorce besides affected household fond regard demands, boundaries, and relationships. After the divorce, my male parent was physically and emotionally cut-off from my female parent and the remainder of the household ( Bowen, 1978 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My sisters and I had no contact with my male parent for a twelvemonth following the divorce, which created a stiff boundary between him and the kid subsystem and contributed to our inability to accommodate our heartache and heal ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Additionally, boundaries between the parental and kid subsystems, and within the sibling subsystem, became more diffuse as a consequence of the new functions and duties of each household member ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . The alterations in household construction forced my in-between sister to take on more of a parental function within the sibling subsystem. Additionally, my female parent was unable to pass as much clip within the place due to the demands of her n ew function as fiscal supplier, which created a distance and detachment between the parent and kid subsystems ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My female parent s relationship with my oldest sister was every bit affected as a consequence of the passage. After she left place, my oldest sister was able to emotionally divide or cut-off my female parent and the pandemonium within the place ( Bowen, 1978 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . However, my oldest sister continued to supply emotional support within the sibling subsystem. My female parent s mental unwellness complicated her ability to get by with the passage and adequately turn to the attachment demands of my sisters and I ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Despite the complicated and helter-skelter relationship we each had with my female parent we urgently needed and wanted her comfort, counsel, and nurturance in response to the hurting, confusion, and anguish we were experiencing. However, my female parent s ain emotional instability rendered her unable to adequately turn to our demands for fond regard. My female parent was preoccupied with her ain demands for emotional comfort and responded in a cold and rejecting mode to our demand for comfort and security. Rather, my in-between sister and I were forced to supply comfort and consolation to my female parent and set our ain demands aside. This function reversal further complicated the interactions and boundaries between the parent and kid subsystems. Culture besides influenced my household s perceptual experience of the divorce and ability to get by with the passage. The disintegration of a matrimony and household is non good accepted within the Mexican civilization due to the strong accent on household connexion and committedness. In fact, households that experience divorce are frequently shamed and ostracized by drawn-out household as was the instance in our household system. My maternal grandparents expressed contempt and letdown in my female parent s inability to salve her matrimony and household, which created more tenseness within our household. Additionally, divorce was uncommon within our suburban community. We were the first household in our community to see a divorce and this contributed to my household s feelings of embarrassment and shame. The divorce besides altered our household s public individuality of the ideal in-between category household, and revealed some of the struggle and pandemonium within our place. Our household individuality now reflected matrimonial strife and a broken place. Our spiritual beliefs besides complicated our ability to accommodate after the divorce. Divorce is non supported or condoned within Catholicism which increased our feelings of embarrassment and shame in the Catholic community. My household had limited entree to resources following the divorce. As antecedently mentioned, our household operated as a closed system which complicated our ability to achieve equal fiscal, societal, and emotional support and aid from external systems ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Our socioeconomic position, fiscal resources, and criterion of life were significantly minimized. We transitioned from being a financially unafraid in-between category household to populating below the poorness line in a affair of months. Our entree to societal support was besides limited as a consequence of the stiff boundaries dividing my household from external systems of support such as household friends and mental wellness professionals ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Rather, each member of the household sought single resources within and outside the household to assist relieve emotional hurt and achieve support. For illustration, my sisters and I sought support from external systems incl uding friends and instructors ( Nichols, 2011 ) . We besides relied on the unafraid fond regard we had with each other for emotional support and counsel ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My female parent sought emotional support from extended household, the kid subsystem, and her new colleagues. My parents divorce was an unexpected event that significantly increased the degree of emphasis within my household and contributed to alterations in household individuality, construction, functions, relationships, and resources. My household s opposition to seek and accept external resources and back up farther complicated our ability as a system to retrieve from our loss and adaptively header with the passage. Cultural influences besides contributed to a negative assessment of the state of affairs. My household s negative perceptual experience of the divorce resulted in feelings of hopelessness and desperation instead than an accent on problem-solving and growing ( McKenry A ; Price, 1994 ) . This negative perceptual experience significantly inhibited our ability to adaptively get by with the passage and associated stressors. My household was able to readapt construction and functions, but lacked coherence and stableness. The apogee of the event, the deficiency of sufficient resou rces, and the negative perceptual experience of the passage resulted in my household s assessment of the event as a crisis that disrupted equilibrium, increased force per unit area and emphasis within the household system, and negatively affected household operation ( McKenry A ; Price, 1994 ) . meotite sed the degree of emphasis within my household and contributed to the