Epicyon - Facts and Figures

Epicyon - Facts and Figures Name: Epicyon (Greek for more than a dog); pronounced EPP-ih-SIGH-on Habitat: Plains of North America Historical Epoch: Middle-Late Miocene (15-5 million years ago) Size and Weight: About five feet long and 200-300 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; quadrupedal posture; big-cat-like head About Epicyon Possibly the largest prehistoric dog that ever lived, Epicyon was a true canid, belonging to the same general family as wolves, hyenas and modern dogs- and was thus a different beast altogether from the non-canid creodont mammals (typified by the giant Sarkastodon) that ruled the North American plains for millions of years before the Miocene epoch. The largest species of Epicyon weighed in the neighborhood of 200 to 300 pounds- as much as, or more than, a full-grown humanand it possessed unusually powerful jaws and teeth, which made its head look more like that of a big cat than a dog or wolf. However, paleontologists dont know much about Epicyons feeding habits:  this megafauna mammal  may have hunted alone or in packs, and it may even have subsisted exclusively on already-dead carcasses, like  a modern hyena. Epicyon is known by three species, all of which were discovered in western North America in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. The lightest variant, Epicyon saevus, was named by the famous American paleontologist Joseph Leidy, and for a time was classified as a species of Aelurodon; adults only weighed about 100 pounds fully grown. E. haydeni was also named by Leidy, and has been synonymized not only with Aelurodon, but with the even more obscure Osteoborus and Tephrocyon as well; this was the largest Epicyon species, weighing more than 300 pounds. The most recent addition to the Epicyon family, E. aelurodontoides, was discovered in Kansas in 1999; you can tell by its species name that it was also close kin to Aelurodon!

Consumer Behaviour dissonance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Consumer Behaviour dissonance - Essay Example In modern theories of consumer behaviour, much stress is given on this particular sequence of events of first knowing one's self and then proceeding to make a purchase. Experts believe "that people purchase a product or brand only if these things are consistent with, enhance, or in some way fit well with the conception they have of themselves" (Ross, 1971, p. 38). Thus, self-image, or self-concept has found a central place in the works of many modern consumer behaviour theorists. "Any bit of knowledge that a person has about himself or the environment is a "cognition," or "cognitive element."" (Wicklund, and Brehm 1976, 2). Self-cognition is not objective, but the sum total of subjective thoughts one has about one's self. It is taken as "the totality of the individual's thoughts and feelings having reference to him/her self as an object" (Rosenberg, 1979). Modern consumer behaviour theories postulate that a consumer who is not aware of his/her self, and fails to achieve "self-congruity" is bound to suffer in the act of purchasing a product from pre-choice anxiety, and/or post-choice regret arising from cognitive dissonance. In theories that attribute a "brand" with personality (Sirgy, 1985), the same principles can well apply to the development of the brand image of a product, as they apply to the consumer's path to proper purchase. Similar theorists hold that consumers select brands by the same process they select companions; "just as people take care in choosing friends who have a similar personality to themselves, so brands, which are symbolic of particular images, are chosen with the same concern" (De Chernatony and McDonald, 1997, p. 145). In today's marketing theories, products are assumed to have a personality that is not only determined by the product's physical characteristics (actual self), but also by the marketing mix promoting a brand image (ideal self) beyond the functionality of the product. In fact, according to many, self-image/brand-image congruity plays a key factor in driving consumer behaviour, and a brand image or product image, like the human self, can possess " a set of attribut es such as friendly, modern, youthful and traditional" (Sirgy, 1985, p.195). The concept of the self that a person holds has many dimensions, and includes both physical and psychological attributes. Self-concept bases itself upon human self-prototypes and moderates the psychological functioning of an individual to exhibit consistent behavioural patterns in the various social roles that a person has to play. Such self-prototypes or self-schemata control, organize, and influence the information processing function of a person that includes the processing of both self-related and other information (Markus, 1977). The selection, interpretation, filtration, and assimilation of incoming information depend upon the self-schemas possessed by each individual (Kihilstrom, 1981). Absorption, rejection, or alteration of new information is based upon its consistency with the existing self-structure (Snygg and Combs, 1949). Earlier research on measuring and analysing self-images was confined to the domain of psychologists who studied the differences that could be seen between the individual's perceptions of his/her real

An Action Plan for Cushy Armchairs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

An Action Plan for Cushy Armchairs - Essay Example Even though Sampson had new ideas and plans to change the operations in the company, it was soon found out that her directives were not being met by the company units across the world. A message that she sent to all managers in her company draws zero response and proves that she is not at the helm of affairs of the company. Â  There could be many reasons as to why Sampson had to face issues as Cushy Armchairs. The foremost issue of importance is that Sampson is trying her hand at change and that all employees, irrespective of their status and positions, will have a tendency to resist change. It is also important to note that she has taken charge in an Asian country where gender-specific issues are important when taking orders. Hence she should not expect that her orders will be easily accepted as in her country in Asian regions. Sampson was also seen as making an effort to centralize operations of a company whose operations were already decentralized. The stress of centralizing operations and the importance given to a central administration in her email would have turned opinion against her. Finally, email is not considered as an official form of communication in most part of the world, and hence her email could either have been discarded as a piece of informal communication or there is even the chanc e that the communication never got across to the right people because of lack of knowledge in operating computers or because of a lack of IT infrastructure. Her communication also lacked credibility and accountability since she did not ask for acknowledgment of her communication. Â  It may be argued that resistance to change could be the major issue that would have prompted managers in the company to resist the orders listed out by Sampson. The fact that the founder of the company was being replaced is itself a recipe for discontent within the company.

You can choose the topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

You can choose the topic - Essay Example These are some important points that are critically evaluated in the work at hand. Han people, based on Confucian belief had special perspective about undeveloped land as something unproductive and should be deserted rather than to be improved (Williams 66). After all, â€Å"Cultural realities – including attitudes, values, preferences, perceptions and identities – can be just as important in shaping land use decisions as the material realities of political economy† (Williams 61). The underdeveloped lands were the most important places where nomads and the minority used to stay to earn a living and ensure their economic subsistence. â€Å"The nomads themselves had no written records until much later, and accordingly no old accounts are available from any source† (Lattimore 62). This means that the prevailing claim concerning the nomad lifestyles may at some point quite limited and should be taken into account further. Although this may sound quite a limitation, some findings suggest essential lifestyles linked to Nomads. As investigated, finding for new pastures was the primary intention of the Nomads like Kazaks after the Chinese Revolution of 1911 (Svanberg 113). As an addition to this, certain evidence suggests that there were some minority livelihoods that were said to flourish like in the case of Nuosu. â€Å"Nuosu subsistence economy has traditionally combined agriculture, pastoralism, and foraging activities including fishing, hunting, and fore stry. This kind of a mixed economy emphasizes diversification and insurance against disaster in several ways† (Harrell and Warren). This in other words suggests that even the minority population and livelihoods can still have the chance to flourish or grow and ensure economic sustainability. Han people believed that there should be peasants in the land in order to ensure land development, as a substantial point of action that will ensure the continuous link between the economy and politics. That is

Bertoly Brechts Mother Courage Drama Essay

Bertoly Brechts Mother Courage Drama Essay Bertolt Brechts view on the function of theatre was that it should provoke its audience to change. The epic theatre, Karl Marx and German directors Max Reinhardt and Erwin Piscator were all inspiration for Brechts theory on the social function of theatre. ( 2004: 709) Brechts essays Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction and The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre clearly outline his understanding of what epic theatre is and how it should be used in practice. In both essays, Brecht explains what makes the epic theatre different from modern and dramatic theatre and discusses the techniques available with epic theatre and the effects they can have on the audience. When comparing his play Mother Courage and Her Children to the two essays, it is clear that Brecht has used the essays almost as guidelines to write the play and put his theories on epic theatre into practice. Mother Courage and Her Children is an extremely typical Brechtian play as it contains all the elements that Brecht wanted to include in his plays in order to present his new form of theatre which he believed had a greater social function. One of the most obvious examples of Brechts essays being put into practice in Mother Courage and Her Children is Brechts use of narrative instead of the plot. Each scene begins with a narrative description of what will happen in that scene, and the play itself starts with a prologue which introduces the central character (Mother Courage) and reveals what the play is about. Despite the fact that there is a storyline running through the play, the narrative style ties in with Brechts aim of not giving the audience the chance to become emotionally attached to the characters. The way in which the play jumps with each scene keeps the storyline general and tied more to the greater social events running throughout the play rather than single, individual events in a particular scene. Having spent much of his life in Germany and experiencing two world wars, it should come as no surprise that many of Brechts plays, including Mother Courage and Her Children, feature war as the overriding theme of the play. Brecht believed that war was a continuation of business by other means. Brechts theory on theatre meant that he did not want his audience to emotionally empathise with the characters on stage. In fact, Brecht deliberately created characters which would be subject to criticism from the audience. In order to invite this active rather than passive response from the audience, to provoke a reaction, Brecht instils traits in his characters which tend to make the audience not identify with them, but criticise them. Mother Courage is portrayed as a strong, witty, formidable woman whose sole purpose is to provide a living for both herself and her children. She is a sacrificial character and her love for her children draws an audience to like her. What prevents the audience from empathising with her is her extremely contradictory nature. Whilst pulling out a knife at the Sergeant and Recruiting Officer to protect her children, Courage calls refers to herself and her children as peaceable sorts. The Sergeants cool reply of your knife shows the sort you are further displays Courages contradictions. (Brecht 2004: 715) When sending her daughter Kattrin into town with the Clerk, Courage tells her not to worry and that nothing will happen, but upon Kattrins return where she is wounded, Courage claims she should never have let her go. When arguing with the Cook over a possible move to Utrecht, Courage tries to end the conversation with thats enough, only to continue it herself moments later. In the same scene, Courage encourages Kattrin for the two to go with the Cook to run his pub in Utrecht because life on the road is no sort of life, but after she sees Kattrin trying to run away she quickly turns on the Cook and questions what she and Kattrin would ever do in a pub. Of course the greatest contradiction of all throughout the play is Courages constant criticism of the war off of which she makes her living. It is this contradictory nature of Courages which constantly reminds the audience to view the character from a distance, analyse her so to spe ak, and not empathise with her situation. Had Mother Courage been presented as a fully-rounded character, the audience would have been tempted to empathise; but her presentation as a paradoxical character helps to jolt the audience into some kind of reaction. (Leach 1994: 136) Mother Courage is not the only character in the play that is given a specific trait to keep the audience empathising and becoming emotionally involved with her. Her sons Eilif and Swiss Cheese are both killed in the play, and it is because of their flaws that they are killed. Her eldest son, Eilif, is strong and intelligent, but his boldness costs him his life. Her younger son, Swiss Cheese, is simple and honest, but he too is led to his death because of his stupidity. The audience are constantly reminded throughout the play by Mother Courage that her children have these traits. I have another who is foolish but honest is just one example of Brecht giving Mother Courage a specific line for two reasons: both to remind the audience of the paradoxes each character possesses, to stop them from being empathised with, and to support the epic idea of the play that each scene should be its own. It is frequently seen in Brechts plays for an off-stage characters absence to be explained throu gh an on-stage characters dialogue. (ref) Robert Leach argues that for Brecht, character is only of interest in so far as it illuminates the fleeting event which provides the writer, or the actor, with a usable gesture. What Leach is saying is that for Brecht, the character is only a function to the greater social and economical forces which control and shape the world (within the constructed reality that are his plays), and that the actors, whilst portraying characters, can use them as tools to show the effect of these greater social implications. This can be linked to Brechts observation in the essay Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction that actors too refrained from going over wholly into their role in the sense that not only did actors do so to invite criticism from the audience of their characters, not only to draw attention away from the individual and place it on the social, but to also show that the characters are simply functional to the social. Another one of Brechts main aims was to not focus on the individual emotions of the character, but to explore and show the importance of the greater social implications. In Mother Courage and Her Children, emphasis is not put on the decisions the characters make but the social events which dictate the action of the play. War, religion and family are three main themes which run through Mother Courage and Her Children, and ultimately the fate of each character is determined by these themes. Unlike naturalistic plays where emphasis is usually placed on the individual, in Mother Courage and Her Children Brecht focuses on the relationship between the social implications and the characters of the play. All of the characters in the play are linked together by these themes, and their inability to change their individual (or in the case of Courage and her children, combined) situations. (Examples) Brecht has created Mother Courage as the central character of the play, but because it is not on ly her, but all the characters that are affected by the war, the spectators focus is neither on the central character Mother Courage nor any of the character. The spectators focus is drawn, by linking the characters and making them unable to change their situations, to the superseding social themes presented in the play. Brecht liked the notion that epic theatre allowed for jumps in time, and this is reflected in Mother Courage and Her Children. There is a jump in time between each scene of the play, usually a year or two, and the constant curves and jumps in the play the dialectic approach allow for Brecht to show a process and effects over time rather than one particular point of time and its individual effect on characters. (Brooker 1994: 189) These jumps in time also allow the play to be epic in the sense that they allow each scene to stand independently. The jumps in time also go hand-in-hand with Brechts idea that with epic theatre, the audience should be looking with eyes on the course rather than eyes on the finish. Swiss Cheeses death and Mother Courages refusal to admit the body is his is one of the most intense moments of the entire play, but it comes as early as Scene Three. Also, the jumps in time show man as a process rather than man as a fixed point. Rather than focusing on the centr al character (Mother Courage) at one particular point, Brecht draws out the play so that the audience view Courages process and development as a character subject to the social and political circumstances. The end of the play sees Mother Courage, now completely alone; walk with soldiers who are singing the same song that is sung in the prologue, reminding the audience of the process that has begun from the very beginning of the play and the effect it has had throughout. The jumps in time between each scene of Mother Courage and Her Children are typical of Brechts aim to get the audience to look at the events that have taken place from a more general period of time rather than a specific point. One of the key parts of Brechts theory on theatre was that the audience should constantly know that what they are watching is not reality but a construction being presented on stage. By doing so, Brecht could show to his audience that what they were watching was not reality but a presented image of reality, and that could inspire change. To this end Brecht used several techniques in many of his plays (including Mother Courage and Her Children) which allowed him to reveal that the play was indeed a construction. A typical Brechtian technique used in the play is the use of stage directions at the start of each scene, which then reveal what is going to happen in that scene. By using these stage directions (either spoken aloud or displayed with placards on stage) Brecht is able to both remind his audience that what they are watching is a construction. Also, by telling the audience what will happen before it happens, Brecht can eliminate the shock factor, thus keeping the audience away fr om having an experience and focused on learning from the action on stage. Openly revealing that the play is not real allows Brecht to prevent any sense of emotional attachment to the piece. This can be linked to Brechts essay The Modern Theatre is The Epic Theatre where he says: †¦once illusion is sacrificed to free discussion, and once the spectator, instead of being enabled to have an experience, is forced as it were to cast his vote; then a change has been launched which goes far beyond formal matters and begins for the first time to affect the theatres social function. Brecht states in his essay The Modern Theatre is Epic Theatre that words, music and setting must become more independent of one another. (reference) This statement is echoed in Mother Courage and Her Children as Brecht uses not only dialogue and stage directions but songs and music in the play, and makes sure that the songs used are seen on an equal level to the other elements such as words. In fact, Scene Ten of the play is constructed entirely of only a few stage directions and song. By giving the songs such importance in the play, on the same level as stage directions and dialogue, Brecht implements his idea into practice, showing that he has used his two essays almost as guidelines for writing Mother Courage and Her Children. Songs are also used in the play to fit in with Brechts theory that plays should not be presented to the audience as reality, but as a construction. The direct delivery of a song from a character to the audience, thus breaking the fourth wall, is one of the w ays in which the audience is reminded that they are indeed watching a play. The songs also tend to reflect the social and political themes of the play and inspire the audience to think about what they are watching. Looking at Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction and The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre in comparison with Mother Courage and Her Children, it is clear to see that the play falls into all of the categories that Brecht lists in his two essays for his theory on the function of theatre. Throughout the play the focus is taken away from the characters individual emotions and drawn to the greater social and political forces which affect the characters. The play is used as a discussion forum of sorts for some of the common Brechtian themes such as war, religion and family. The use of non-naturalist techniques such as placards and songs helps to break the illusion that the audience creates and prevents them from developing empathy for and emotional attachment to the characters. The jumps in time between each scene of the play keep the audiences focus on the process over time and not at a fixed point. Mother Courage and Her Children is without question of Brechts most typical pl ays and it is clear to see his essays Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction and The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre have been put into practice to create the play and inspire the audience to change, rather than experience.

Child Labour :: essays research papers

Our Efforts and Experiences – Part - I â€Å"In all the civilized societies all over the world system of child labour is condemned as a social evil but the fact is the system is prevelent on a large scale in a country like India. It is noticed that, in recent times our society is showing some signs of awareness about this social evil. This is the first part of the article giving details about the efforts undertaken in and around Ahmedpur for eradication of this system. Since past 12 years I am working on various issues related to rural areas through People’s Institute of Rural Development and Rachanatmac Sangharsha Samiti (Maharashtra). To generate employment for farm labour through â€Å"employment guarantee scheme†is our sustained and major activity. While working with farm labour during 1988-90 I was exposed to the issue of Child Labour. When I saw the children working as child or boned Labour in agriculture, I could realise the intensity of this issue. Agriculture is a main source of employment for labour in rural areas. Child Labour working in farms, or as a bonded labour or as a herdsman has an adverse impact on the employment of adult people. When dialogue was initialed with farm labour on this issue. They narrated that when child works as a Child Labour he/she actually supports the family. They feel that child provides something to eat to a family. This is a general feeling among the rural masses about Child Labour. The common understanding among this labour class is more working hands means more income for a family. But this calls still could not decide, whose hands these should be? They are not understanding that small hands are depriving of big hands from employment. The difficult life they are living and ignorance of these farm labour is responsible for such type of their attitude towards their own children. It made us realised that there is a need of structural   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  changes in the society and we resolved to work for structural changes. In the society and we resolved to work for structural changes. In the initial period neither we had any plan nor a concrete stralgy to deal with the situation. We decide to have a dialogue with farm labour on this issue. Already we were discussing with them about employment minimum wages, equal wages for equal work, laws for the profection of a farm labour etc.

Natural Disasters and Their Effect on the Macro Economy Essay

Natural Disasters can have both a positive and negative impact on the local, national and the global economy. However it is rare, but not out of the question, to see the positive impact it may have on an economy. For instance, when disaster struck in Haiti from the 7. 3 magnitude earthquake in 2010, between 200,000-250,000 people were killed. That is 2 percent of the total Haitian population of only 10 million. Comparatively New York City alone totals nearly as much as the entire population of Haiti with about 8. 2 million people (U. S. Census Bureau, 2010). The Inter-American Development Bank estimated that it cost 8.5 billion dollars in damage to Haiti’s economy. The earthquake caused the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to contract 5. 1 percent that year. Considering that Haiti’s economy only produced 12 billion dollars in 2008, 8. 5 billion dollars is a huge deficit to the overall production and functionality of their economic and social growth. That is less than a tenth of a percent of U. S. GDP of 14 trillion dollars, but Haiti’s GDP per capita is only 1,300 dollars compared to over 40,000 dollars per person in the U. S. (CIA. gov). With all of this said, Haiti brought in nearly fifteen billion dollars through donations. So although there was catastrophic and disastrous losses to both the social and economic stimulus, on donations alone, Haiti was able to receive three billion dollars more than even their best year in 2008 with only twelve billion dollars. Proposing a theoretical situation, if an earthquake destroyed capital stock but left the labor force intact, the real rental price of capital would increase. The real rental price equals the marginal product of capital and having less capital stock available raises the marginal product of capital and therefore, raises its real rental price. This situation would also make the labor force larger in relation to available capital. Since this would lead to a declining marginal product of labor as workers have less equipment to use, the real wage would decrease as well. Due to rising world population, climate change, and environmental degradation, natural disasters are increasing in frequency. They are also becoming costlier and deadlier, according to Swiss Re, a reinsurance company; the U. S. suffered a cost of 145 billion dollars in 2004, which was up from 65 billion dollars in 2003. In 2009, natural disasters cost insurers about 110 billion dollars. In 2010, the cost was double that, at 218 billion dollars. So as you can see, in the past 10 years there have been jumps nearly doubling the cost that a country suffers to natural disasters from year to year. According to the World Bank, there are several factors that affect a country’s vulnerability to natural disasters: its geographic size, the type of disaster, the strength and structure of its economy, and prevailing socioeconomic conditions. In a globalized economy, all these factors, as well as others, also play into how the world’s finances will be affected. A common belief is that short-term economic hits after a disaster, even those as large as this year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan or Hurricane Katrina in the U. S. in 2005 are more than offset by the reconstruction boom that follows. However this is only in countries that are large and rich enough to have short-term stabilization to the immediate economic hit. The nature of the disaster and the size of the victim count in an economy are key when determining whether or not natural disasters have a negative impact on macroeconomic growth. So in a country such as Haiti and their disastrous earthquake, although a lot of money was pumped into the economy in order to help in the rebuilding, that does not do much when they are still in need of the proper man power that can produce new development or ideas for rebuilding the structures that were destroyed. Incidences of natural disasters have increased by 30 percent since the 1960s, and risk-modeling companies have raised the likelihood of a Katrina-like event happening once every 20 years, rather than once every 40 years (SKOUFIAS, 2003). Because of the possibility of large natural disasters happening more often as well as more frequent smaller natural disasters occurring, how will the economy be affected? Especially if before the reconstruction both socially and economically is finished from the original disaster, another strikes in the same area. Another problem that is faced with economic downfalls due to natural disasters is how other countries may view the stability of that country. For example, 75 percent of Haiti’s national income came through the export of retail apparel to the United States. If Haiti were to have any kind of smaller disasters before they can properly rebuild their economic and working communities, then other countries will only see them as a reoccurring high-risk investment and will no longer look to invest in Haiti, only deepening their turmoil from an economic stand point. Droughts cannot be forgotten either. 2010 set records as the hottest year in one of the hottest decades in history. Climate change, exacerbated by the effects of El Nino, sparked off a series of global heat waves. In Pakistan, temperatures rose to 128. 3 degrees Fahrenheit on May 26, the highest temperature seen in Asia. Russia was plagued by a series of wildfires, destroying crops and woodland, and blanketing cities in smog. People across Europe had to be hospitalized for heat strokes and dehydration as air-conditioning failed to bring relief. Asia had one of the most severe droughts across the globe. The drought caused an estimated 3. 5 million dollars in immediate damage, both to agriculture and to the country’s hydroelectric sector. There are also other uncounted losses, but still very real costs from the drought: a drought can lower the overall productivity of land due to erosion and topsoil loss. It can reduce the numbers in livestock herds, which most of Asia relies on for everyday living needs as well as economic income. Before the end of the summer, the death toll would rise into the thousands. 15 million people were evacuated, and over a million homes destroyed. Nearly 34 million acres of crops were affected by floodwaters, with at least two million completely destroyed. By August, direct damage from the floods was estimated at $41 billion. This is something that affected the worldwide agricultural need and demand (PreventionWeb, 2010). Proving the destructive power of natural disasters, even in highly developed nations, Hurricane Katrina crushed the gulf coast. Just east of the Bahamas on August 24, 2005 a small, unlikely tropical depression intensified into a tropical storm which was given the name Katrina. This storm slowly made its way to Florida’s southern coast on the 25th where most experts believed the storm would dissipate. Unfortunately, Katrina’s path took it over the everglades allowing it to maintain its category 1 standing that it had acquired before it first made landfall, then entered the Gulf of Mexico. The warm waters of the Gulf fostered the rapid development of Katrina (Kempler 2010). The above image shows Hurricane Katrina at the height of her power. Estimates had Katrina making landfall as a category 4, but thankfully it weakened a bit and before it rolled in as a strong category 3. Katrina became been responsible for an estimated 1,800 deaths, as well as 100 billion dollars total in damages, of which about 60percent were uninsured losses. Some economists would put the total economic loss at around 250 Billion dollars (Amadeo 2011). That made Katrina the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the United States. With all of Katrina’s destruction, the short term effects on the economy were very evident. Only one year after the disaster the United States, the economy was back to normal. In the first three quarters of 2006 the United States had GDP growth of 5. 6 percent, some of the most rapid growth in recent years (Herman 2006). Even though the nation as a whole made a quick economic recovery after Katrina, locations that were struck directly, like New Orleans, did not make the turnaround quite as rapidly as hoped. The first few months after Katrina the United States economy went into a downward trend. The GDP growth rate dropped from the 4. 2 percent that it had experienced in the first three quarters to 1. 8 percent in the last quarter of 2005. The reason for this impact goes beyond the destruction of property and the primary economic concern; the loss of goods and production capabilities (Herman 2006). Perhaps the most important resource that the gulf region produces is oil. The gulf makes up about 30 percent of America’s oil production and distribution. The effects of Katrina resulted in the destruction of 113 offshore platforms, and nearly 500 oil and gas pipelines (Amadeo 2011). The loss of this production led to a drastic increase in gas prices soaring to over 4 dollars per gallon. This drastic rise in prices created a panic, and people rushed to the gas stations to fill up before prices rose again, creating massive lines and much talk about the gloomy forecast of economic woes come. The only positive result from the increasing gas prices was when the Federal government opened the strategic petrollium reserves. This increase in gasoline prices surprisingly did not have as much of an impact as speculators feared, other than people’s outlook on the situation. There were some effects.mthough mostly food price centered. The three main goods that saw a notable impact were the prices of bananas, rice and sugar (Leibtag 2006). The primary reason for the increase in the rice and sugar prices is because the Louisiana Mississippi area is responsible for 85 percent of the sugar cane production, and 14 percent of the rice production in the United States (Leibtag 2006). The drastic loss in production from that area was softened by short-run increases in the other producers of those crops. This ability to increase short-run production is a factor that contributes to the resiliancy of free-market economies. Though the nationwide effects were not all that staggering, the effects in New Orleans the months following Katrina were devastating. With 80 percent of the city flooded, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee the city of New Orleans, many never to return again (Blackburn 2010). This drastic loss in population coupled with the destruction of approximately 200,000 homes and businesses led New Orleans and the surrounding areas into a dire economic situation. In the first few months after Katrina, Louisiana lost 12 percent of the state’s 214,000 jobs (Herman 2006). One result of the loss of jobs was a drastic raise in mortgage delinquancy rates (Herman 2006). This inability to pay is more than likely a contributing factor to the very low rate of return from people who were forced to evacuate their homes by Katrina. Those that did find the resolve to return to stay were in a desperate situation. New Orleans, whose primary industry is tourism, suffered great losses after the storm. They desperately needed to be able to find a way to bring back the American and foreign tourist in order to fuel the creation for more jobs. The drop in tourism is best reflected by the attendance rates in New Orleans famous Mardi-Gras and Jazz Festivals. Both events had roughly a 30 percent drop in attendance from previous years (A year after Katrina, New Orleans desperately seeking tourists 2006). Part of the reason for the delay in the return of the tourism industry is the mass clean-up that had to take place first. Before anyone could return and maintain normal operations, there was still 118 million cubic yards of debris to be cleaned up.(Amadeo 2011) Thanks to efforts by FEMA, the Red Cross and many church ministries across the country, there was much help to be found. However, despite the efforts of all these groups, New Orleans a year after the incident was still working its way very slowly towards full recovery. With the aid that had come into the city, organizations were able to rebuild infrastructure and make great improvements to both education and government. In fact, post Katrina New Orleans has experienced steady growth in almost every way, including education levels, over the last 6 years as shown by the chart below Though it took about a year for it the effects to show and recovery to really make a strong step forward, the relief money that came into New Orleans and the other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina did what the nation was hoping it would; help restore one of Americas cultural and industrial centers. The economic turnaround in New Orleans shows how an initial investment in the form of government aid, insurance claims, and private donations can improve the economy of an area affected by a natural disaster. If this idea can hold to be true with the most costly natural disaster in American history, it should work with other costly natural disasters as well. Though maybe part of New Orleans success lay in the restructuring of their government and school systems in addition to the monetary support. Though the economy of the areas affected improve without bringing down the rest of the nation’s economy, suffering this type of event might not prove to be true in countries with weaker economies. Also, if a disaster like this was to hit a city like Los Angelas or New York, like Irene almost did, it is still speculator to say if there would be similar results. One thing can be said for certain, America’s ability to maintain long term economic growth despite short term impacts, like Katrina shows the resiliency of America as an economic super-power. Other economic super powers, like Japan, are trying to find this same formula for economic recovery. In the case of Japan’s 9.0 magnitude earthquake on March 11, 2011, the loss of clean water, electricity, infrastructure, production lines, financial institutions, and more than 15,000 lives caused what the Prime Minister of Japan called the â€Å"The most difficult crisis for Japan† since World War II. However difficult it has been, people have been recovering from the loss of loved ones, injury, and the general trauma of the disaster. Perhaps the greatest and most uncertain long term effects brewing are the econ omic impacts on the world market. Many large industries and economic functions have been hurt, causing price inflation in those industries throughout the world. Since March 11, 2011, nations around the world have had to adjust their consumption in accordance with the loss of production in Japan. Several car companies, such as Toyota and Honda, had their production of car parts slowed, and electronics producers experienced the same effects (Syed, 2011). This has been felt worldwide. For example, Toshiba, who produces roughly 30 percent of the world’s computer chips that store data in smart phones, cameras, and laptops, closed down several factories due to economic losses and physical damages. Events like this are what caused the average price of a chip with eight gigabytes of memory to rise from 7. 30 dollars to around 10 dollars just three days after the earthquake and tsunami struck (Helft, 2011). Obviously, the price of computer chips is not the only price that has risen. Because computer chips are more expensive, new phones, laptops, televisions, cars, cameras, electronic billboards, and complex machinery will have a rise in price to cover the cost of parts and production. This effect will be felt for months, and maybe even years in an already instable world economy. Many of these products are produced in Japan; the world export market has been greatly affected because of that. Japan’s exports have decreased, causing increased economic uncertainty. The macroeconomic result of this is that investors tend to pull away from the increasing risk of pumping money into Japan and look for safer and smarter industries and nations to try to grow their profits (Kihara, 2011). One of the most fascinating things about today’s economy is that everything is so globally connected. Because of this and the slow in Japanese exports, the United States level of consumption of Japanese goods dove 3.4 percent following the earthquake (Guardian. uk, 2011). If this trend continued throughout the year, then the Japanese economy would have lost 4. 2 billion dollars from 2010 levels of United States consumption alone (State. gov, 2011). The disaster and surrounding effects not only caused a decrease of funds going into Japan, but the economic instability caused by the earthquake was devastating in its timing. Japanese and other Asian stock markets plunged as the news of the disaster spread, and this is coming on the heels of the U. S.stock market falling nearly 2 percent the date before. Not only that, but the earthquake caused struggling European stocks to fall to three month lows (CBSnews. com 2011). This goes to show that natural disasters can cause a myriad of negative factors in an economy, and that a spike in uncertainty can be one of the most demoralizing. That uncertainty does not just surface in the stock markets, but also in global financing. The Japanese currency, the Yen, had a significant surge the day after the massive earthq uake struck (Bloomberg. com, 2011). This is said to be credited to the immediate cleanup, repair, and reconstruction needs that Japan incurred following the damages. The long-term effects of the boost in the value of the Yen are still unknown, but it has made the Yen rise in demand in recent months, despite fluctuations since the initial rise in trading worth (Bernard, 2011). The Yen is currently becoming stable once again, eight months after its spike in March then fall in April. Japan has done well in its recovery considering that the Yen hit recent year record lows in April. This graph shows the trading value of the Yen in the past year (Forexblog.org, 2011). The value of the Yen is not the only financial issue at stake. Japan is one of the major foreign holders of U. S. government and corporation debt. With Japan’s Debt-to-GDP ratio at 200 percent, and massive amounts of government spending looming in the rebuilding of the thousands of buildings and roadways lost, Japan is in great need of more money (CIA. g ov, 2010). Because of this, the current interest rates that U. S. corporations are paying on their international loans could increase in an effort to generate more revenue in Japan (Nanto, 2011). In turn, corporations would not be able to borrow as much money for new capital investment, thus hurting the consumption and job creation in the United States at a time when jobs are greatly needed with unemployment rates near nine percent (BLS. gov, 2011). Jobs are a big issue in Japan too. With many of the more than 15,000 killed and nearly 6,000 injured people being a part of the Japanese work force, and tons of cleanup and construction to be done, companies and the government have had to hire thousands of new workers to satisfy the demand for work (Japanese National Police Agency, 2011). After a brief climb in unemployment because of the direct aftermath of the earthquake, numbers dropped to a recent history record low of 4. 1 percent (Tradingeconomics. com, 2011). Once organization was restored, Japan began to utilize its workforce to combat the challenge of rebuilding cities. It is perhaps a gruesome yet effective means of increasing job demand in a nation when its economy was unsettlingly devastated. Since the record drop in unemployment, Japan has had what could be considered a â€Å"Recovery boom. On November 14, 2011, a news article stated: Gross domestic product grew at an annualized 6 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30, the fastest pace in 1 1/2- years, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. At 543 trillion yen ($7 trillion), economic output was back to levels seen before the March 11 earthquake, the report showed. Japan’s return to growth after three quarters of contraction was driven by companies including Toyota Motor Corp. making up for lost output from the disaster. A sustained rebound will depend on how much reconstruction demand can offset a slowdown in global growth as Europe’s debt crisis damps global confidence and an appreciating yen erodes profits (Sharp, 2011). The fact the Japan is now back to its pre-earthquake GDP level is remarkable. It initiates again the idea of what is known to economists as â€Å"The Broken Window Fallacy. † The theory is that an economy can create jobs and achieve higher employment levels though the destruction of the current goods that exist. However, the destruction comes at a cost of replacement that, in the end, is not going to create a net gain, but will instead create a loss or â€Å"quick-fix† break even because businesses will be stimulated, but run less efficiently in the long run. Only time will tell if Japan’s growth over the last few months is simply a rebound or if the disaster caused a rethinking of how things should be done and built, therefore creating a more efficient, productive Japanese economy. Economists will be watching closely to spot trends. Another disaster that could have the same categories of effects on a much smaller scale is Hurricane Irene. The northeastern U. S. experienced the worst flooding since the existence of many towns and buildings of the region. Since only three months have passed since Irene made landfall on the New England area on August 28, 2011, the long term impact of the estimated 45 billion dollars in losses are still speculative (Morici, 2011). Given the current status of the American economy, any damages of the storm are probably being felt most nationwide right now, if compared to the time table of Japan’s economic fall and rise with respect to the earthquake in March. The U. S. may see a slight drop in unemployment and a rise in capital investment as part of the restoration of Irene’s damages, but most likely, no real growth will come out of it. However, the increase in consumption in order to rebuild the damaged parts of the northeast may spark a rise in consumer confidence, and that is what America desperately needs. A natural disaster in a third world country might bring in more money in aid than that country’s economy could have ever produced on its own, making a very positive economic impact. But, as far as the number go, in a developed nation like the United States or Japan, natural disasters cause little more than a large scale broken window fallacy case study. A hurricane, earthquake, or other disaster can bring forth events that build intangible benefits such as consumer confidence, improved organization of infrastructure, or more efficient ideas, but most real development and confidence comes from ingenuity, not devastation. However, it is hard to argue against the fact that necessity is the mother of invention, or in this case, restructured success. Works Cited