Law and Policy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Law and Policy - Case Study Example These strategies promote integrity, availability and confidentially of information by defining security procedures, guiding their implementation and outlining wide array of measures. This proposal looks the impact of organization laws, regulations, and policies in maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Legal environment and its impact on information security The legal environment provides an indispensable framework that guides organization on how to achieve various goals such as information security. In many organization, the triad of factors—rules, regulations and policies constitute the entire framework the promote information security (Martin, & Khazanchi, 2006). These factors, however, differ on their scope and impact on information security matters within an organization. In many organizations, policies remain the first strategy of ensuring the organization information systems are secure. Regardless of the type of organization, whether business, nonprof it or federal, policies stipulate guidelines that promote information security. Policies in general, guide information security governance within an organization and this help maintain information security within an organization. ... For instance, the United States Federal government publishes a minimum-security requirement that its agencies must adapt to secure data and information technologies (Martin, & Khazanchi, 2006). On the other hand, organization can develop policies that guide how their employees interact and use information system to protect data and promote confidentiality, integrity, and availability. In many cases, government policies guide how government entities structure their policies and implement security apparatus. However, organization policies direct the conduct and use of information system among the organizations personnel, administrators, and clients. Despite their difference, these policies provide a baseline that helps define access rules and develop mitigation effect should there be any security breach. For instance, government and organization polices provide employees with guidelines on how to secure systems. For instance, the Federal guidelines stipulate the minimum encryption that federal entities must adapt to secure the system from threats that can influence (Martin, & Khazanchi, 2006). In addition, an organization can develop policies that outline how its users can secure their information when using information system. For instance, a banking institution can set policies that require customers to change users’ passwords after the lapse of a certain period. These policies reduce the risk that can breach security measures not to mention promoting responsibility over information security. Rules on information security define the legal environment of an organization. Regulations refer to orders that define what users of information can perform and what they user should not. This aspect of the legal environment is critical in

Critical Management Studies Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critical Management Studies - Coursework Example Modern life, to a considerable extent, is governed by managerial or economistic approach whereby, in the context of business in organizations, the efficient allocation of resources takes precedence over humanistic or ethical concerns. In this respect, many public services are increasingly facing new forms of managerialism, while many aspects of socio-cultural activities are also being subjected to the same business, management, and economic perspectives. Over the years, narrow interests such as financial institutions have traditionally dominated research in business, management, and economics leading to biased theory of practice (Barratt 2011, p.110), which CMS has been countering; CMS is now a valid and vital aspect of the Business school curriculum, and is even visible in professional bodies for practitioners in business, management, and organization studies. The pervasive scepticism regarding the essence of the mainstream management ideas and practices have spurred the need to expand the field of management through research, to espouse alternative innovative ways of understanding management (Alvesson and Willmott 2012, p.5), instead of relying on the ineffective status quo, thus the emergence of Critical Management Studies. Overall, CRS often seeks to bring to fore the subtle workings of power while identifying and reforming the daily workplace practices that enforce injustices both in firms and in the society. CMS views the prevailing conceptions and forms of management as well as organization as unjustified and unsustainable (Alcadipani & Hodgson 2009, p.130), with a keen focus on the social injustice as well as the environmental destructiveness of the wider socio-economic systems that managers and specific firms serve and reproduce (Foster & Wiebe 2010, p.271). In this respect, it is not really the failures of individual managers or the poor management of specific firms that informs and motivates CMS,

Analysis on the Studio System of Hollywood in the Golden Era Essay Example for Free

Analysis on the Studio System of Hollywood in the Golden Era Essay The Fall of Monopoly ‘As far as the filmmaking process is concerned, stars are essentially worthless and absolutely essential. ’ -William Goldman It started with Florence Lawrence as the ‘Biograph Girl’ in the early 1900’s, and bred into the formation of the Universal Studios by one smart producer by the name of Carl Laemmle. The birth of Hollywood had never experienced a joyful transition for editors and actors, who back in the day were treated like hired help by directors. The silent film era was not the commercial enterprise it is today; it was a mere impression of Vaudeville, and studios generated cheap and generic content, while actors remained anonymous and low paid. Florence was one of the popular actresses of the time who helped create a celebrity culture that was infact a farce used by Studios to promote their cinematographic content. And this farce became known in history as the Golden Age of Hollywood. The celebrity culture that is idolized today was in actuality a ploy used to attract an audience following. Stars were created, not born. The Studio System comprised of The Big Five (MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers, RKO and Fox), who are credited for creating some of the most legendary stars of the time, thus leading to the term ‘star system’. Studios invested a great deal of time and money into grooming and publicizing an actor, and owning him in the process, simply by signing him to a contract. When an actor had inscribed his name on the formidable piece of paper, he had no future of his own. Depending on his talent and the response his image got from the audience, he was either crucial or dispensable to the Studio he had been employed by. The industry was relentless when it came to the treatment of actors. Fame, in all its shallow glory, was a high price to pay for the compensation of no personal life and no personal choice. Actors were required to play the roles they were assigned to without question or argument, made to indulge in publicity stints, and traded off or loaned to another Studio on mutually agreed upon arrangements without their consent. Performers were very similar to the posters their faces were displayed on because they had absolutely no control over their careers, just as a poster has no control over how it is used or interpreted. An example of the extent to which a Studio went to glamourize its artists is Rita Hayworth, who was coerced into changing her name from Margarita Casino and made to get plastic surgery performed (hairline electrolysis) to make her more marketable. However, that is not to say that actors were treated with any respect when the silent era fell off its crippling platform. The past was not a happy place for an actor before the term ‘celebrity’ came into being. The release of ‘The Jazz Singer’ is known to be the pedestal on which the studio era was founded upon because it was the first motion picture with a few minutes of synchronized sound. When sound entered the frame, Vaudeville rapidly depleted into obscurity, and former Vaudeville actors were faced with the bitter reality of unemployment, forcing them to migrate into the film industry. This immigration created a domino effect for the entertainers already present in the enterprise. They had never been exposed to the element of voice being incorporated into a motion picture, and could not adjust to the inclusion of sound. Various hurdles included bad voices, thick accents and the inability to remember dialogues. Moreover, the Big Five circulated their own theatre chains, and adopted specific genre as labels for their reputation and glory. In this process, actors were never given much flexibility to explore or expand their potential, but were in a constant state of repeating the same theme over and over again in each new production. On a more positive note, this repetition led to the recognition of some very creative artists, who explored a theme with such unabashed inquisition that no two films were ever shown in a tiresome cycle of alliteration. ‘One well-known actor in this situation was Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly was associated with musical films such as  An American in Paris,  Les Girls,  Brigadoon, and  Singin’ in the Rain. In virtually all of his movies, Kelly would sing and go through intricate dance numbers. MGM, the studio Kelly was contracted with, knew people expected this from Kelly, so the studio made sure to put Kelly in musical films. The few movies Kelly was in that weren’t musicals did not do nearly as well as the ones he sang and danced in. When people saw a trailer for a movie with Gene Kelly in it, they expected to see a musical; this expectation kept people coming back to see more of Kelly’s movies, which brought MGM more and more revenue. ’ The Studio System did not only control the lives of its performers within the confines of its sets or production houses. An employee had no concept of privacy or freedom of indulging in the luxuries offered outside the bubble of the world of film. Due to the incredulous amount of acclamation an actor received, he could not ruin his public image, even by making the mistakes a common citizen could afford to overlook. Studios had contracts drawn with ‘morality clauses’ that forbade an employee from engaging in the utility of drug abuse, divorce and adultery as these would lead to the consequence of a foiled public image, thus resulting in loss of annuity. However, even though such social control was oppressive, it retained a modest reputation and acted as a form of deterrence for the artists. However, the violation of these clauses led to no direct effect on the perpetrators, because the Studio they were assigned to would pay off the witnesses or offer exclusive stories to tabloids in exchange for not reporting on the truth of the matter. In this sense, actors were provided with free reign to do as they pleased. ‘Cinema is the culmination of the obsessive, mechanistic male drive in western culture. The movie projector is an Apollonian straight-shooter, demonstrating the link between aggression and art. Every pictorial framing is a ritual limitation, a barred precinct. -Camille Paglia Was it the male drive in western culture -if the term western culture can be deemed as appropriate- that led to the birth of explicit content in Hollywood, or the market demand for it? Censorship created a massive propaganda in the late 1920’s. It was one of the major reasons why The Motion Picture Commission was established in 1921, the strongest form of government that induced censorship on films for the next 44 years. It began with ‘The Kiss’ in 1896, in which a man and a woman shared a kiss that barely lasted half a minute, leading on to ‘Know Thy Husband’ (1919), in hich the protagonist contracted a horrible disease after indulging in his primal desires in the city, evolving further into ‘Outside the Law’ (1921), a crime film with the same connotations. Hollywood was never subtle with its aesthetic imagination, and actors, as a result, developed a notorious reputation. Infact, Hollywood itself was renowned to be a place infested with scandal and immoral behavior. This splintered imagery of the sensational mirror that reflected the flaws of Hollywood was not for the righteous offence of the general public alone. Celebrities suffered directly from the environment they presided in- literally in the fatal sense. For instance, one of the most tragic deaths a star faced was Thelma Todd, a young actress who had costarred in a number of classic comedies with the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and Buster Keaton (Monkey Business’ ‘Horse Feathers’). She died at the age of 30, in 1935, believed to have committed an accidental suicide when she was found dead in her car, although the general opinion suggested suspicions of cold blooded murder. Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls. -Ingmar Bergman The Studio System gave rise to legendary personalities, faces of people that are remembered as icons of inspiration and unadulterated talent. It gave rise to films like ‘Casablanca’, ‘Gone with the Wind’, ’The Maltese Falcon’ and ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. It gave us Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire, and countless other idols to look up to and admire. However, with the emergence of Sound and Studio, even when Hollywood acquired so much recognition and wealth, it lost the sense of morality and the image of an honest corporation by degrading its own reputation, and that of its main components, the actors. Cinema is now associated with superficial glamour, it is a world that is infested with deceit and facade. A false pretense of joy through fame, a bubble of happiness that does not seem to exist in the first place. Ironically, the fall of the Studio System began with the reason for its accession. War brought people to theatres, and war became its undoing. After World War II legal, technological and social developments converged on the Hollywood film industry, undermining the economic foundation of the studio system. The antitrust suit against Paramount in 1948, combined with the increasing strength of unions, encouraged the growing practice of freelancing’. This decision not only outlawed the practice of block booking, it also forced the studios to sell their theater chains, and reduce the number of productions. What was once a monopoly of the ‘Big Five’ turned out to be a doorway for minor studios and independent filmmakers to thrive in. As far as the actors were concerned, they found the opportunity to become more genre savvy, and demand the right to refuse a contract, or opt to go to a free agency instead. They found the leeway to become more selective and demanding in their preferences regarding their professional services. The star system crumbled, but the stars found liberation. References: http://www.hollywoodmoviememories.com/articles/hollywood-history/hollywood-studio-system-golden.php http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/apex/ http://www.filmsite.org/30sintro2.html http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood?from=Main.GoldenAgeOfHollywood http://www.ritahayworth.com/ http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/09/the-rise-and-fall-of-hollywood-studio-system.html http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem?from=Main.FallOfTheStudioSystem

The efficient market hypothesis and behavioral finance

The efficient market hypothesis and behavioral finance The efficient market hypothesis is directly related to the behaviour of prices in asset markets. Initially the term efficient market applied only to the stock market, but later it was generalised to other asset markets. The efficient market hypothesis is seen as the turning point of the modern finance (Fama, 1965) and in his classic paper, Fama (1970) defined efficient market as one in which security always fully reflect the available information [p.383]. Market efficiency is known as the speed and accuracy where the current market prices reflect the investor expectations. When the market is efficient, all the available information is fully and automatically reflected in the price, gaining profit by using this information is seen impossible. Efficient market hypothesis predicts that market price should incorporate all available information at any point in time. According to Pesaran, Hashem M (2010) The efficient market hypothesis (EMH) evolved in the 1960s from the random walk theory of asset prices advanced by Samuelson (1965). Samuelson showed that in an informationally efficient market hypothesis, price changes must be unforecastable. Kendall (1953), Cowles (1960), Osborne (1959), Osborne (1962), and many others had already provided statistical evidence on the random nature of equity price changes. Samuel-sons contribution was, however, instrumental in providing academic respectability for the hypothesis, despite the fact that the random walk model had been around for many years; having been originally discovered by Louis Bachelier, a French statistician, back in 1900. One important implication is that security prices will change only when there is arrival of new information that was not considered during the formation of current market prices. Yet the information will be evaluate and process this information efficiently and immediately incorporate into the security prices. The crucial questions here is the relevant information because it needs careful analysis and the conclusion about market efficiency could be there or extracted from the information set. A standard classification for different compositions or information set was outlined by Fama (1970) as weak form, semi-strong form and strong form. On the other hand, new empirical studies of security prices have reversed some of the earlier findings related to EMH. The traditional finance school named these observation anomalies due to the unexplainable in the neoclassical framework. Due to the increasing numbers of puzzles, the new approach of behavioural finance emerged. This approach focus on the investors behaviour in making decision in investment. This approach assumes that agents may be unreasonable during interpreting new information and thus lead to making wrong judgement in investment. This paper will discuss the definition and concept of efficient market hypothesis and behavior finance in general. I will be look into market issues for countries of Malaysia, USA, Africa and Jordan. I would then like to highlight the issues on this area for future research. Efficient Market Hypothesis Definition and Concept The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) is an investment theory that stated it is impossible to compete with the market when stock market efficiency causes existing share prices to always incorporate and reflect all relevant information. According to the EMH, stocks are always trade at their fair value on stock exchanges. Investors will face difficulties or even impossible in either purchase undervalued stocks or sell stocks for inflated prices. The possible way for investors to obtain higher returns is by purchasing riskier investment and they have to outperform the overall market through expert stock selection or market timing. Forms of Efficient Market Hypothesis There are three forms of Efficient Market Hypothesis where the key to all the three forms remain that is intense competition among investors to gain profit from any new information. There are three versions of EMH, namely the Weak From EMH, Semi Strong EMH and Strong EMH. The weak form EMH is based on past history of prices where the past information is used to analyze for profit return. This method is called technical analysis. The value retrieved from technical analysis is strong and consistent. On the other hand in semi strong form, the current stock price has fully taken into consideration all publicly information that is available. However, the information in the semi strong form is available to all the investors; one is expected not to gain much profit with such information. But this form is stronger than the weak form. Whereas strong form of EMH is taking the current price fully incorporates all existing inside information, both public and private. When the information set us limited to past price and return, the market is said to be weak-from efficient and there is correlation between current return on security and the return over a previous period. However the return is purely unpredictable from the past information. In semi strong Efficient Market Hypothesis, all publicly available information is reflected in the stock market. Investment Managers claim that mutual fund managers are skilled in analyzing publicly available information but empirical evidence do not support. Market Efficiency and security prices reflect all available information whereas new information is expected to be converted into price changes. Efficient Capital Market participants will react immediately and in an unbiased manner. Important of Efficient Market Hypothesis There are common misconceptions of Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). EMH claims that investors cannot outperform the market but there are analysts who have succeed in outperformed. So EMH is seen to be incorrect. EMH claims that one should not be expected to outperform the market predictably or consistently. EMH said that financial analysis is pointless and investors are wasting time if doing research in security price. But everyone knows that financial analyst is still needed in the market. Again EMH is found to be incorrect. EMH sees new information as always fully reflected in market places and yet prices fluctuated every day, every hour and minutes. EMH must be incorrect. EMH presumes that all investors are technically expert but in reality it is otherwise. EMH is incorrect again. Criticism towards Efficient Market Hypothesis There are several opinions against the EMH. First is the over reaction and under reaction of investors. EMH claims that the investor react quickly and in an unbiased manner to new information but it was contradicted to De Bont and Thaler. EMH claims that investors react very fast and in an unbiased manner when they received information but De Bond and Thaler said otherwise. They said that stock with long term past return tend to have a higher future returns and vice versa and empirical observation shows that stock prices respond to earning about a year after the announcement. Secondly, the value versus growth where value strategy is able to outperform the market consistently. Finally is the small firm effects where average return on small stocks were too large to be justified by the CAPM while the average returns on large stocks were too low. There are also implications of Market Efficient for Investors where the EM, investors have little to gain from active management strategies; should follow passive investment strategy and no attempts to beat the market but to optimize returns through diversification and asset allocation. Behavioral Finance Definition and Concept The behavioural finance is an area in finance that highlighted on the investors behaviour and how they make their decision in understanding the pricing of assets and also explain the decisions of investors as rational actors. The rational actors are seeking for their self-interest, given the sometimes inefficient nature of the market. EMH revolves around the preferences and behaviour. Psychologist and also experiment economics found out that there is a departure from the normal paradigm of the investors in making their investments. Behaviour finance emerged since 1980 where it incorporates more behaviour science into finance decision making. Due to the excess volatility, dividend puzzle, equity premium and future returns in the capital market is seen as consistent in an efficient market but the truth is inconsistency do happen. According to behaviour finance good year performance may not lead to another good year but it could be otherwise. Issues in Behavioral Finance Behavioral finance has emerged due to the problems faced in the traditional theory in explaining why some financial phenomena happened. It is said that agents may be irrational in with their own reactions to new information and investment decisions. To undo mispricing created by the irrational investors may be difficult. Due to that, market is seen to inefficient. Psychological sees these in many views. People make mistakes when they perceive information and form their belief. Extensive evidence shows that individuals are overconfident in their judgement (Odean (1998), Barber ODean (2001)). When investors are overconfident, they tend to invest more and intensively. Due to greed, overconfident and also overreact to new information, investors would tend to make heavy losses. What make it difficult it when investors stick to their own conclusion interpreting the information. Once people have formed an opinion, they often stick to it and inadequately update their beliefs in the lieu of new information (Edwards (1968)). Human emotions and moods are also said to influence investors behavior. When investors are in the good mood they are willing to take higher risks compared to when they are in bad mood. In fact market returns are found to be higher on days of good weather than on days with heavy clouds and rain. Social influence and interaction with other investors are also coherent to th e behavior. Investors tend to follow others in making their investment, they tend to follow each other like in a herd. Herding leads more on the situation when an investor focuses more on other investors participation rather than evaluating the information of the particular security. Behavior finance changes the way how we look at capital markets. It is a new approach that has direct impact not only to investors but also others such as corporate finance, market regulators and policy makers. In behavior finance, the investors should not consistently expect to beat the market even at times when they succeed in getting abnormal returns from their investment. According to behavior finance, market is not always efficient. Good return may due to the available information. However, it is advised to actually spend some of the return and study the cause of mispricing that have cause the market to fluctuates. It is said that achieving higher returns is not only due to good analysis strategies but a better self control. Primary contribution of behavior finance is its potential help in beating the market. Summary of Researches This section will discuss the research finding from Malaysia ( KP Lim., Liew KS., and Wong HT, 2003), Africa (C Mlambo and N Biekpe, 2007) United States America (Jae H. Kim 2009) and Jordan (Mahdi M. Hadi, 2006) The first research which was done by Lim et. al, 2003 was the weak form EMH that generally holds in KLSE Malaysia and the existence of the linear and the non-linear dependencies. These dependencies appear at very random intervals for a short of time but then disappear again even before investors have the chance to exploit it. As we know efficient market hypothesis is a fair game where the prices changes in the security is reflected by any new information which was not taken into consideration earlier during the forming of current market price. The paper by Lim et al, 2003 focused on the weak form EMH where the historical price is the only determinant of the security prices. The price movement in a weak form occur randomly and successive price changes are independent of one another, i.e. random walk theory. Past price analysis has no meaning since the patterns observed in the past occurred purely by chance. The weak form Efficient Market Hypothesis has been studied since many years in KLSE. Malaysian stock market is inefficient in the weak form when weekly data were used but efficiency exist when monthly data were used. Test done by Von Nehmanns suggested that information that is based on historical prices is fully reflected in current price within a week but may not be fully impounded in current price within a day which conclude that Second Board of KLSE is weak form efficient with respect to weekly data. But when weekly data were used the efficiency of the Malaysian stock market has improved from a weak form inefficient market in mid 1980s to weak form efficient by late 80s and early 90s. Empirical evidence from various statistical test found out that the low trading volumes in most stocks and the possible price manipulations by those investors who own majority of the stocks might help to explain the findings of the runs test. The reason for departure from random walk is due to the presence of non-linear dependencies in the underlying data generating process which is now widely accepted as a salient feature of financial returns in general and stock returns series in particular. Non linearity has strong implication on the weak form EMH for it implies the potential of predictability in financial returns. Lim et. al (2003b.d) and Lim and Tan (2003) provided convincing evidence that non-linearity has a high effect in the underlying dynamics of the Malaysian stock market. Ko and Lee (1991:224) If the Random Walk Theory hypothesis holds, the weak form of efficient market but not vice versa. Thus evidence supporting the random walk model is the evidence of market efficiency. But violation of the random walk model need not be evidence of market inefficiency in the weak form. Kok and Lee (1994) and Kok and Goh (1995) argued that though daily price series are found to be serially correlated, the magnitude of their c orrelations is not large enough for any mechanical trading rules to be devised for profitable investment timing. In connection to the existence of linear/non-linear dependency structures to the concept of information arrival and market reactions to that information will prove to enlightening. It is said that if the market is efficient and the new information is useful then it shall be reflected quickly and unbiasedly into market prices. There is a rationalization the correlation between the weak-form EMH and behavioural finance in KLSE. The statistical properties of random walk, linear and non-linear dependencies are interpreted in the context of information arrival and how the market react to that information. The second research was done by C Mlambo and N Biekpe, 2007 with regard the weak form in the African Stock Market. Johannesburg Stock Exchange is found to be weak form efficient but using weekly data it is not weak form efficient. Studies that have used data on individual stocks used either monthly or weekly data rather than daily data due to non availability of computerised databases. Another argument for using data measured over longer time intervals in the problem of thin trading. Increasing the time interval is argued to reduce the potential biases associated with thin-trading by increasing the probability of having at least one trade in the interval. (Dickinson and Muragu, 1994). This paper studies the weak form efficiency of ten African stock markets using the serial correlation and runs tests African stock market emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the latest in 2003. African stock exchanges are also the smallest in the world in terms of both number of listed stocks and market capitalisation. The majority of stock markets in Africa trade daily from Monday to Friday. The portfolio inflows to Africa have been disappointing due to unfavourable scenario is that acquisition of shares by foreigners is limited on some African stock markets. The Market Regulator was established on the back of poor regulatory and legislative frameworks. African stock markets are also known to be illiquid and characterised by thin trading (Mlambo and Biekpe, 2005) in comparison to stock markets in other regions. The delay market is perceived by African governments to be an indication of integration into the global economy. It is considered to be a sign of international legitimacy and a measure of a countrys modernisation and commitment to private sector-led development (Moss, 2004). The d ata used in this study are daily closing stock prices and volume traded for individual stocks. The markets in this study exhibit serious thin-trading for the periods under investigation. Positive serial correlation is usually considered to be a predictability phenomenon of the short run, while negative serial correlation is mostly a long run predictability phenomenon. The positive serial correlation on African Stock markets might also be a result of institutions imitating spreading their trades over several days to lessen the impact of trades in large volumes on the market (Asal, 2000). The weak market form efficiency if the NSX can probably be explained by the markets positive correlation with the JSE due to the significant number of stocks that are dual-listed on both markets. The efficiency of the NSX can thus be said to be spill over from, or a reflection of, the weak-form efficiency of the JSE. The weak form efficiency of the NSX was attributed to its correlation with the JSE. Kenya and Zimbabwe were also concluded as generally weak form efficient, since a significant number of stocks conformed to the random walk. The stock prices on the Mauritius market tend to deviate from the random walk hypothesis. The same conclusion was made for Ghana. The run test used here only tests for the existence of a linear relationship which makes it inadequate as a testing method on African stock markets where the return generating processes are assumed to be nonlinear. The use of linear models would thus lead to wrong inferences being drawn. Thus further research is required to test the random walk hypothesis. The third research that I would like to discuss is the market hypothesis in the United States America. Kim et al., (2009), study return predictability of the daily and weekly Dow-Jones Industrial Average indices from 1900 to 2009. The degree of return predictability is estimated using two autocorrelation test (variance ratio and portmanteau) statistics, implementing moving sub-sample windows of different lengths. They found strong evidence that changing of market condition has lead to return predictability. In particular, during market crashes (1929 and 1987), it was observed that return in unpredictable and when it is predictable it is very much associate with high level of doubt. When there is economic crisis, the return from the stock is very predictable even with moderate degree of uncertainty. Whereas during economic bubbles, return predictability and its uncertainty have been smaller than normal times. Our results are in strong support of the adaptive markets hypothesis, which claim that changing market conditions drive the key market features such as the return predictability. They examine the degree of return predictability of the U.S. stock market using the century-long Dow-Jones industrial index. As measures of return predictability, they used their findings and complements with the recent study by Neely et al. (2009) who report the evidence in favour of the adaptive markets hypothesis for the foreign exchange market in the context of profitability of technical trading rules. The statistics from the automatic variance ratio and automatic portmanteau tests. To detect possible non-linear dependence in stock return, the generalized spectral test has been implemented. They obtain monthly time-varying measures of return predictability by applying these tests to moving sub-sample windows over monthly grids. A regression analysis is conducted to determine how these measures of return predictability are related to changing market conditions and economic fundamentals. They also find evidence for cyclical evolution of return predictability, in which changing market conditions are important factors for the degree of return predictability. It is found that, during market crashes, no return predictability is evident but its uncertainty has been exceptionally high. However, during economic and political crises, a high degree of return predictability is observed, but only with moderate degree of uncertainty. During bubble times, the return predictability and its uncertainty are found to be lower than normal times. Contrary to the general findings of past empirical and survey studies, we have found evidence the U.S. market has become more efficient after 1980. This is convincing given that the U.S. market has implemented a various measures of market innovations in the 1960s and 19070s, and that US macroeconomic fundamentals have become much more stable since 1980. In addition, there have been fewer occurrences of economic and political crises after 1980 than before. Our finding is a manifestation of the adaptive markets hypothesis, which argues that dynamic market conditions govern the degree of stock market efficiency. Finally this paper will discuss on efficient market hypothesis in Jordan capital market. This paper by M. Hadi (2006) noted that the objective of accounting numbers is to provide the financial data about the performance of certain enterprise in order to help the managers, investors, shareholders and government authorities in making their decisions. On the other hand, the purpose of accounting research is to estimate the value of accounting data to all investors and other users. Furthermore, the purpose of capital market research is to examine the association between accounting numbers and security return and to test whether or not accounting data carry any information content to security market, and if so it should be impounded in the security price, the results show the security market reacted with mixed signal on releasing profitability, liquidly, and solvency information. This paper identified EMH and provided some detail on the types of EMH, as well as identifying the empirical research that tested weak, semi-strong and strong forms of market efficiency. Accounting market based research more often assumes that market is efficient in semi-strong form, and the reason for this is that financial reports are considered public information once they are released to the market. In this paper empirical evidence has been provided from Jordanian market, and it shows the security market reacted with mixed signal on releasing profitability, liquidly, and solvency information. The selection of the relevant pricing model is very critical in market-based research. Brown and Warner (1980) investigate how different methods performed when some abnormal performance was present. They conclude that There is no evidence that more complicated methodology conveys any benefit. (Brown and Warner, 1980). Also, they argue that using more complicated models will make the researc her worse off. Furthermore, the use of the market model or even simple models such as mean adjusted return is better than more complicated models like control portfolio. 5.0 Conclusion The relationship between finance and other social sciences that has become known as behavioural finance has led to a strong and deepen of our knowledge of financial market. In judging the impact of behavioural finance to date, there is still no exact one method that can make an investors gain high profit. For instance in situation where efficient markets theory may lead to drastically incorrect interpretations of events such as major stock market bubbles. . Indeed, we have to divert our presumption that financial markets always work well and that price changes always reflect genuine information. Evidence from behavioral finance helps us to understand, for example, that the recent worldwide stock market boom, and then crash after 2000, had its origins in human foibles and arbitrary feedback relations and must have generated a real and substantial misallocation of resources. The challenge for economists is to make this reality a better part of their models. It is found that in Malaysia, there is co existence of weak form EMH and behavioural finance. Unlike in Africa, there are mix of two findings where conforms to the random walk theory and also deviate from the theory. Whereas in United States, it is claim that return predictability and market efficiency and investors behaviour are considered as highly context dependent and dynamic by changing market conditions. Whereas in Jordanian market shows the security market reacted with mixed signal on releasing profitability, liquidly, and solvency information. Further research is suggested in Malaysia to incorporate the issue of model adequacy where the characteristic was found in the returns series and can be used to construct a better economic model. Whereas in Africa it is suggested to test on the existence of linear relationship in the stock markets where the return generating processes are assumed to be linear. In Kuwait, a few research has been investigated in market efficiency in strong form, it is suggested that for future research test for insider information should be investigated.

The Pearl : Appearances Can Be Deceiving Essay -- essays research pape

John Steinbeck's The Pearl tells the story of Kino, a poor pearl diver who lives in Mexico with his wife, Juana and his baby boy, Coyotito. One day Kino finds a huge pearl worth a great deal of money. Kino dreams of being rich and buying all that he wants after he sells the pearl. The one thing that Kino doesn't realize is that there are many people who will do anything to steal the pearl from him. No one ever suspects the pearl's power todeceive, corrupt, and destroy. Hence, The Pearl depicts the ultimate battle between good and evil. When Kino finds the pearl he is shocked. " It was as large as a seagull's egg. It was the greatest pearl in the world" (Steinbeck 19).Kino and Juana revel in the excitement thatsurrounds Kino's finding the pearl, but their happiness soon turns to distrust. The pearl buyers, whoKino has to sell the pearls to in order to make a profit, try to cheat him. They tell him that the pearl is so big that it has no value. Kino has to hide the pearl, but while he sleeps a thief tries to steal it. The doctor who would not treat Coyotito's scorpion bite when they had no money now comes to them offering the best medical care he can provide.As the story of Kino's situation unfolds, Kino is forced to kill three men, and worst of all, Kino accidentally shoots Coyotito in the head while he is trying to shoot his pursuers. Finally, at Juana's urging, Kino throws the pearl back into the sea. He has made nothing from his fin... The Pearl : Appearances Can Be Deceiving Essay -- essays research pape John Steinbeck's The Pearl tells the story of Kino, a poor pearl diver who lives in Mexico with his wife, Juana and his baby boy, Coyotito. One day Kino finds a huge pearl worth a great deal of money. Kino dreams of being rich and buying all that he wants after he sells the pearl. The one thing that Kino doesn't realize is that there are many people who will do anything to steal the pearl from him. No one ever suspects the pearl's power todeceive, corrupt, and destroy. Hence, The Pearl depicts the ultimate battle between good and evil. When Kino finds the pearl he is shocked. " It was as large as a seagull's egg. It was the greatest pearl in the world" (Steinbeck 19).Kino and Juana revel in the excitement thatsurrounds Kino's finding the pearl, but their happiness soon turns to distrust. The pearl buyers, whoKino has to sell the pearls to in order to make a profit, try to cheat him. They tell him that the pearl is so big that it has no value. Kino has to hide the pearl, but while he sleeps a thief tries to steal it. The doctor who would not treat Coyotito's scorpion bite when they had no money now comes to them offering the best medical care he can provide.As the story of Kino's situation unfolds, Kino is forced to kill three men, and worst of all, Kino accidentally shoots Coyotito in the head while he is trying to shoot his pursuers. Finally, at Juana's urging, Kino throws the pearl back into the sea. He has made nothing from his fin...

A Study Of Depression And Relationships Essay -- essays research paper

A Study of Depression and Relationships A primary concern for Psychology research is depression. Depression affects a great deal of our population and many aspects of an individual's mental health and well-being. In my research of books, articles, and Internet pages on depression, I chose to base my paper mainly on a 1994 article of a study of depression, entitled Depression, Working Models of Others, and Relationship Functioning, by Katherine B. Carnelley, Paula R. Pietromonaco, and Kenneth Jaffe.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This study focuses on the idea that the type of care received in childhood, positive or negative, has a great effect on relationship functioning later in adulthood. But there are two links between child-rearing and relationship functioning: attachment style and depression. Both derive from the type of care received in childhood and affect relationship functioning, and both exert a reciprocal influence on each other in adulthood. The researchers of this study wanted to examine all the correlation's between type of care, attachment style, depression, and relationship functioning. They proposed a three part hypothesis: 1. A less positive childhood would result in an insecure attachment style and depression, 2. Depressives would exhibit a preoccupied or fearful style of attachment, and 3. attachment style would affect relationship functioning more than depression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The research was conducted in two independent studies. The first study sampled 204 college women. Women were studied based on the very plausible assumptions that women are more susceptible to depression than men and relationships carry more significance with women than men. The women were screened using the Beck Depression Inventory, a popular method of testing consisting of 21 multiple choice questions to be administered by a clinician. The questions range in scope from feelings of sadness to loss of libido. From these results, a sample of 163 was taken: 73 whose scores indicated mild depression. From this point the researchers administered various inventories to assess the type of childhood care given, romantic attachment styles, and relationship functioning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Depression appears to be the independent variable, because the sample was selected based on desired levels of depression. Once the distinction in levels of de... ...s is through hereditary. Almost 40-50 percent of the siblings of manic depressive's children also have a depression disorder. It is sometimes however hard to decipher between a normal teenager's mood swings, or a depression. People need to realize not to discriminate, and know that it is a treatable chemistry imbalance. If one's teenager is acting in a depressive state have them talk to a psychologist, and assure them nothing is wrong with them, and that it can only help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I chose to do my research on this given that I am manic depressive. I had recently broken up in a relationship, and this research helped to satisfy some curiosities. With this research I realize how much I have been helped, and it helped to explain some of my personality traits. Someone who has manic depression should definitely go in for help, and should realize the risk of not. The research shows that the interaction between relationship functioning, depression, and attachment style are attributable to early childhood. In other words, an individual's experiences in his or her formative years can have lasting psychological effects, up to the most basic social functions in adulthood.

Did the Church Help or Hinder the Progress of Medicine in the Middle Ages?Did the Church Help or Hinder the Progress of Medicine in the Middle Ages?

Did the church help or hinder the progress of medicine in the middle Ages? In this essay I will be looking at the different aspects of medicine in the Middle Ages and accessing how the church helped or hindered their development. As there was a lot of unrest at the start of the middle Ages the church is important because it preserved a lot of things. It also provided a way of life, so it was very influential. The Church did not encourage the development of new medical ideas, it was not in their interest.When Roger Bacon (a thirteenth century priest) he suggested that a new approach to medicine was needed he said that doctors should their own original research instead of learning from the books of ancient writers such as Galen. Church leaders put him in prison for heresy there is an engraving showing him smuggling his work out of prison. The church banned dissection for a time, however from 1492 the pope allowed dissection as long as the body was that of a criminal. The first medical school was set up in Salerno in 900 AD by the church.By the Montpellier in France was the most famous but there was a number of others at these school students listened to lectures where the teachers read out passages from the work of Galen and other ancient writers. The church did provide some training for doctors as they gave money to the universities. Without this money, the universities would not have been able to survive. Students would be able to listen to a lecturer talk about the work of Galen. In France, the church allowed the students to dissect one body a year for research.However, the doctor would only watch as the dissection was done. The church taught that Galen’s ideas were correct so that idea that dissection could be used to check his ideas did not cross anyone’s mind. Dissection was used to illustrate Galen’s ideas about the body. The church had taught different types of cure for illness. Thousands of people flocked to Canterbury because it was said that Becket’s blood could cure blindness, leprosy and deafness. The church taught that prayer could cure illness. Holy oil and water were used to treat people.Many people carried parchments from the bible to warn off disease. The church paid for hospitals to be built. It taught that it was your Christian duty to look after the sick. In the 13th century over 160 hospitals were built. The monasteries had libraries. However, only monks had access to the books. The church could ban books that it did not like. The monks would teach children to read. Some religious houses had very strict rules because the most seriously ill people would need a lot of looking after. No lepers or lunatics, or person having the falling sickness or contagious disease. No pregnant women, or suckling infants, no intolerable persons even if they are infirm should be allowed in the house. † From the rules of a religious hospital in 1219. A cure for toothache in the 1300’s recommended by John of Gaddesden a leading English doctor â€Å"Write these words on the jaw of the patient. â€Å"In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen. † The pain will then cease at once. Monasteries were used to care for the sick.Many had running water and provided fresh food and rest to the poorest people. â€Å"Care for the sick stands before you all. You must help them as Christ would. Let it be the chief concern of the Abbot that the care of the sick be his main concern. â€Å"From the rules of Benedictine monasteries. The monks were not trained doctors and were more likely to pray for you than give you effective treatment. The church had also taught that kings had a link to God that gave them the power to heal. Alms-houses gave shelter to the poor, the elderly, widows, young children and pregnant women.They were run by priests but no real medical help was given. Many monasteries had herb gardens. The monks used their knowledge of medicine from the books in their lib raries to make herbal remedies. However, there is little evidence of them being able to make new cures for disease. Because of the church, doctors had to have a licence to practice medicine. This is the beginning of qualifications for doctors. After the 13th century it was illegal for a person to call themselves a doctor without having formal training.