Midterm 2 with Solutions Econ311 Free Essays

string(57) " This is one of the critiques of the Solow growth model\." Intermediate Macroeconomics 311 (Professor Gordon) Final Examination Fall, 2009 YOUR NAME:________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS 1. The exam lasts 2 hours. 2. We will write a custom essay sample on Midterm 2 with Solutions Econ311 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The exam is worth 120 points in total: 30 points for the multiple choice questions, 60 points for the analytical questions, and 30 points for the essays. 3. Write your answers to Part A (the multiple choice section) in the blanks on page 1. You won’t get credit for circled answers in the multiple choice section. 4. Place all of your answers for part B in the space provided. 5. You must show your work for part B questions. 6. Write your essays with a pen. Write clearly! 7. Good Luck and Happy Holidays! PART A (45 points) Choose the ONE alternative that BEST completes the statement or answers the question. Your answers must be in the space provided below. USE CAPITAL LETTERS. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | PART B (45 points) Please show your work and write down the formulas you use for partial credit. Question 1 (5 points) (a) What monthly rate of inflation causes the price level to increase by a factor of 5 (500 percentage points) over a year? (2 points) (HINT: Use the LN and EXP formulas from Chapter 9, Problem 2, further examples of which were presented in lecture on November 11). Using the log formula: p = 100*log(5)/12 = 13. 4%. b) If the rate of monthly inflation is 25%, by what factor would prices have risen over a year? (3 points) Let’s call the initial price level P0 and the price level at the end of the year P12 25 = 100*log(P12/P0)/12 P12/P0 = exp(25*12/100) = 20. Question 2 (10 points) Consider an economy where inflation expectations are given by the equation pet = . 4 pt-1 + . 6 pet-1 . Also assume that when the log of the output ratio increases by 1 points, inflation increases by 4 points. a) Write down the SP equation, both its general form and its specific form with these particular parameter assumptions inserted. (2 points) pt = pet + gYt-1 + zt = . 4pt-1 + . 6pet-1 + 4Yt-1 + zt ) Write down the DG equation (no need to derive anything, just write it down). (1 point) Y = Y-1 + [pic] – p c) Combine the SP and DG equations to express p as a function of pt-1, pet-1, Yt-1,[pic]t, and zt. (2 points) (HINT: Your answer must have p on the left side of the equation and terms not including current p on the right side, with all the relevant parameters inserted and solved out. ) p = 0. 4p-1 + 0. 6pe-1 + 4Y + z = 0. 4p-1 + 0. 6pe-1 + 4(Y-1 + [pic] – p) + z 5p = 0. 4p-1 + 0. 6pe-1 + 4Y-1 + 4[pic] + z p = 0. 08p-1 + 0. 12pe-1 + 0. 8Y-1 + 0. 8[pic] + z For the remainder of the problem, assume that in period t=1 the economy has values given by: p0 = 3pe0 = 3Y0 = 0 ) Suppose there is no supply shock in period 1 (z1 = 0) and that [pic]1 = 5. Solve for period 1 values p1 and Y1. (2 points) p1 = 0. 08(3) + 0. 12(3) + 0. 8(0) + 0. 8(5) + 0 = 4. 6 Y1 = 0 + 5 – 4. 6 = 0. 4 e) Suppose instead that there is a period 1 supply shock that increases the value of z from 0 in period 0 to 1 in period 1. Find the period 1 values p1,[pic]1 and Y1 as well as the expected period 2 inflation, pe2, if the government adopts an accommodating policy. (3 points) Accommodating Policy means Y1 = 0, so from the DG equation p1 =[pic]1 and from the SP equation: p1 = . 4(3) + . 6(3) + 4(0) + 1 = 4 = [p ic]1 pe2 = . 4(4) + . 6(3) = 3. 4 Question 3 (15 points) Consider a country whose Central Bank issued 100$ of High-Powered Money (H). Citizens’ cash holdings (dollar bills) amount to 10% (. 1) of their deposits while each commercial bank has to have reserves for 15% (. 15) of the volume of deposits. a) What is the level of deposits? (2 points) D = H/(c+e) = 100/(. 1+. 15) = 400 b) What is the level of the Money Supply defined as dollar bills and deposits? (3 points) M = (1+c)D = 1. 1*400 = 440 c) Suppose the Central Bank wants to increase Money Supply to 528. How many extra units of High-Powered Money do they have to circulate? (4 points) M = (1+c) H / (c+e) 528 = 1. 1 H / . 25 H = 120 So they should print 20 extra units of H ) Assume now that the Central Bank still wants to set the Money Supply to 528 but the Government forbids them from printing High-Powered Money. What option is left to the Central Bank? (Hint: restrict your attention to this simplified model where there is nothing like direct lending or any other exotic policy) (2 points) Change the reserve requirement e) Given your suggested policy, which of the parameters of the model would they be changing? To which new value? (Remember that here H=100 and cannot be changed by assumption and M=528) (4 points) M=(1+c) H / (c+e) 528=1. 1 * 100 / (. 1 + e) e=. 1083 = 10. 8% Question 4 (15 points) Consider two nations, Richland and Poorland. Both nations have the same Cobb-Douglass production function, Y=AKbN(1-b). Let Poorland have an economy with technology level A=18, capital elasticity of production b=(1/3), population growth rate n=. 13, capital depreciation rate d=. 07, and savings rate s=. 3 a) Rewrite the production function as a function relating Y/N and K/N. (2 points) Y/N = A(K/N)b = 2(K/N)(1/3) b) Solve for the steady state values of the capital-labor ratio (K/N) and per-capita GDP (Y/N). (6 points) s(Y/N) = (n+d)(K/N) sA(K/N)b = (n+d)(K/N) (K/N) = [sA/(n+d)]1/(1-b) (K/N) = [. 1*18 /(. 2)]3/2=27 (Y/N) = (n+d)(K/N)/s (Y/N) = (. 2)(27)/. 1=54 c) Richland has a per-capita GDP that is triple that of Poorland. Given hat Richland has the same production function as Poorland, the capital-labor ratio in Richland is what multiple of the capital-labor ratio in Poorland? (In other words, if Poorland has a capital-labor ratio of K/N= x and Richland has a ratio of K/N= y, what is y/x? ). (3 points) [pic] d) Compute the ma rginal products of capital in the two nations. (3 points) MPK = b(Y/N)/(K/N) MPKA = (1/3)(54)/(27)=2/3=. 6667 MPKb = (1/3)(162)/(729)=2/81=. 0247 e) Judging from your answer in part (d), does the Solow model predict that poor countries have a higher or lower rate of return on capital? (1 point) The Solow model predicts a higher rate of return for poor countries. This is one of the critiques of the Solow growth model. PART C (30 points) WRITE YOUR NAME AND ID NUMBER ON YOUR BLUE BOOK. As stated on the syllabus (p. 3) and in numerous in-class and e-mailed reminders, you must write your answers in pen not pencil. This is a single multi-part essay question. You should write in your blue book for 30 minutes. 1. Write a coherent essay on the causes of the 2008-09 recession and on the policy responses to this event. Your essay should cover the following specific points a. First, establish the facts. What were similarities in the duration and magnitude of the 2001 recession and subsequent recovery as compared to the 2008-09 recession and recovery so far? Include comments on GDP, the GDP gap, labor market variables, and any other distinguishing features of these two episodes. b. What were the most important causes of the 2008-09 recession? Include comments on which causes were the same as in the 2001 recession, and which were different. c. In what sense, if any, did monetary or fiscal policy partially contribute to the causes of the 2008-09 recession? d. Evaluate the response of monetary policy since early 2008. What were the similarities and differences between this response and the monetary policy response to postwar recessions in 2001 and earlier? What aspects would you praise or criticize? e. Evaluate the response of fiscal policy since early 2008. What aspects would you praise or criticize? Multiple Choice Questions Make sure to write you answers on the blanks on page 1! 1. The current account includes all of the following except: A) net exports B) net income from abroad C) net unilateral transfers D) foreign direct investment 2. In what way was the international economy cited as a source of the U. S. housing bubble in 2003-06? A) cheaper prices of imported building materials B) support of dollar by foreign central banks C) immigration of skilled foreign construction workers D) high pay of top executives of foreign investment banks 3. Which of the following were not cited in the course as a reason for France and other European nations to be reluctant to endorse an Obama-like fiscal stimulus for their own countries? A) high unemployment in Europe B) low fiscal multipliers C) social welfare system D) unemployment insurance system 4. Suppose we have an economy in which G = 1100, t = 0. 26, Y = 3800, and YN = 4000. At Y the difference between the actual deficit and structural deficit is A) 60. B) 112. C) -172. D) -112. E) 52. 5. The failure of U. S. net exports to improve dramatically in the mid 1980? s despite the weakening of the dollar suggests that A) U. S. industries supply of competitive goods was inelastic over the period. B) LDC debt repayment schedules and lack of financing kept U. S. exports low. C) NCIs maintained fixed exchange rates vis a vis the dollar and U. S. exports low. D) All of the above. 6. In the reading period assignments from the Economist, the United States is faulted relative to Europe and Japan for each of the following reasons except: A) labor and capital markets B) primary and secondary education C) personal saving rate D) infrastructure 7. In the reading period article about France, the French are praised for each of the following reasons except A) infrastructure B) household debt C) output growth rate D) medical care system 8. The mechanism of ? international crowding-out? s that a government budget deficit ________ the domestic interest rate, which makes the dollar ________ expensive for foreigners, which then ________ net exports. A) raises, less, lowers B) raises, less, raises C) raises, more, lowers D) lowers, less, lowers E) lowers, more, raises 9. Which of the following e ffects takes place as a result of automatic stabilization? A) extra tax revenues are generated in a boom. B) tax revenues remain constant during a recession. C) leakages increase during a recession, helping to stimulate the economy. D) Both A and C are correct. 10. If the Federal Reserve intervenes in the foreign-exchange markets and buys foreign currencies A) the U. S. oney supply rises and foreign currencies depreciate. B) the U. S. money supply falls and foreign currencies depreciate. C) the U. S. money supply rises and foreign currencies appreciate. D) the U. S. money supply falls and foreign currencies appreciate. 11. Activists-believe that AD is unstable because A) business and consumer attitudes and expectations shift. B) monetary policy is variable. C) fiscal policy effects are unpredictable. D) Both B and C are correct. 12. Assuming constant wages implies that A) an increase in the price of goods raises profits and SAS is vertical. B) a decrease in the price of goods lowers profits and SAS is horizontal. C) an increase in the price of goods lowers profits and SAS is vertical. D) an increase in the price of goods raises profits and SAS is positively sloped. [pic] 13. Consider the above figure with equilibrium initially at E0. If the money supply is increased and prices are flexible, in the short run prices and output will ___. In the long run output and prices will ___. A) be as at E2; return to E0. B) be as at E1; be as at E2. C) be as at E2; be as at E3 D) be as at E2; be as at E1. E) be as at E1; be as at E3. 14. According to the readings, a common feature of the Great Depression and the recent economic crisis was A) mortgage credit B) deposit insurance C) unemployment rate D) monetary policy 15. The sources of the current problems of running monetary policy are often cited as A) Quantitative easing B) Zero lower bound C) Excess bank reserves D) A) and B) E) B) and C) 16. An acceleration of nominal GDP growth from, say 4% to 6% will A) permanently raise the rate of inflation. B) temporarily lower the rate of inflation. C) leave real GDP unaffected in the long run. D) Both A and C. 17. The short-run Phillips Curve gives A) the actual short-run level of real GDP and inflation. B) all possible combinations of real GDP and inflation, for a given set of expectations. C) all possible combinations of real GDP and inflation, for fully adjusted expectations. D) the response of real GDP and inflation to supply shocks. 18. The Fed is criticized for the â€Å"one-way option† regarding asset bubbles. The criticism is that the Fed __________ when asset prices increase and __________ when asset prices decrease A) raises interest rates; lowers interest rates B) leaves interest rates unchanged; leaves interest rates unchanged C) raises interest rates; leaves interest rates unchanged D) leaves interest rates unchanged; lowers interest rates E) lowers interest rates; raises interest rates 19. Which of the following was not a source of the Great Moderation, according to the textbook? A) growth rate rule for money supply B) financial deregulation in late 1970s, early 1980s C) magnitude of supply shocks after early 1980s D) government military spending 20. In the short-run, the impact of an adverse supply shock is to A) reduce real GDP and leave the inflation rate unchanged if the growth of nominal GDP remains the same. B) reduce real GDP and leave the inflation rate unchanged if the growth of nominal GDP is reduced enough. C) maintain the same level of real GDP and reduce the inflation rate if the growth if nominal GDP is increased enough. D) All of the above. 21. According to the textbook, the main losers due to the redistributive effect of the postwar inflation in the United States were A) households. B) corporations. C) government. D) A) and B) 22. Disgruntled? workers who quit their jobs to find ? a more reasonable boss? are experiencing A) involuntary unemployment. B) mismatch unemployment. C) cyclical unemployment. D) turnover unemployment. 23. Policy solutions to mismatch unemployment include A) fiscal policies to raise the AD curve B) monetary policies to raise the AD curve C) policies other than fiscal and monetary policies D) accommodative policies to deal with supply shocks 24. Over a year, the money supply in a nation grew by 6 percent, while velocity rose by 2 percent and real GDP rose by 3 percent. This results in an inflation over the year of ________ percent. A) 5 B) 11 C) 1 D) 7 25. The the Fed’s quantitative easing after mid-2008 is not described by A) increased open-market purchases of Treasury securities B) increased open-market purchases of private securities C) increased open-market purchases of corporate stock D) A) and B) E) A) and C) 26. Which of the following increased by the largest percentage between mid-2007 and mid-2009? A) excess bank reserves B) M2 C) high-powered money D) total bank reserves E) M1 [pic] 27. Initially, the economy is at point G in the figure above. An increase in per capita savings from s0 to s1 will in the short run result in ________ and in the long run result in ________. A) excess per capita saving; more rapid growth in per capita output B) excess per capita saving; less rapid growth in per capita output C) more rapid growth in per capita output; more rapid growth in per capita output D) more rapid growth in per capita output; no change in the long run rate of growth in per capita output 28. Which of the following will not affect steady state per capita income in the Solow growth theory? A) The savings rate. B) The initial capital stock. C) The population growth rate. D) The production function. 29. The Solow growth model predicts that nations that are initially poor should have A) slower growth rates than nations that are rich. B) faster growth rates than nations that are rich. C) growth rates equal to those of nations that are rich. D) negative growth rates. 30. Two readings in the course packet for Chapter 11 cite a particular technological innovation for improved economic growth in poor tropical countries. This is: A) television B) internet C) mobile phones D) new drugs to fight malaria 31. Several structural changes that occurred over the past two decades were a theme of lectures. Which of the following was not one of these changes? A) greater importance of structural unemployment and less importance of frictional unemployment B) smaller response of core inflation to oil price shocks C) larger decline of employment to declines in output in recessions D) larger increase of productivity to increase in output in recoveries E) More reliance on wage flexibility rather than layoffs in 2008-09 recession 32. In the Cobb-Douglas production function Y=AKbL1-b, the variable A has several different names. Which of the following is not one of them? A) autonomous growth factor. B) infrastructure. C) multifactor productivity. D) residual. 33. The formula for the growth rate of multifactor productivity is: A) a = y + bk + (1 – b)n. B) y = a + bk + bn. C) a = y – bk – (1 – b)n. D) y = a – b/k(1 – b)n. 34. Which of the following does not affect multifactor productivity? A) a tax on low-efficiency firms B) a higher saving rate C) Environmental regulation. D) Technological progress. 35. Relative growth rates of the standard of living in the United States and Europe indicate that workers in ________ have chosen to ? spend? _______ of their higher productivity on leisure rather than on consumption of market goods and services. A) Europe, a significant part B) the United States, a significant part C) Europe, almost none D) the United States, almost all 36. Whic h of the following would cause labor? s share of national income to decrease? A) Labor productivity increases less rapidly than the real wage rate. B) Labor productivity increases more rapidly than the real wage rate. C) Labor productivity has increased at the same rate as the real wage rate. D) Labor? s share of national income is not affected by the relative growth rates of labor productivity and the real wage rate. 37. Once monetary policy is dedicated to controlling the level of nominal GDP, then fiscal policy can be used to A) choose the overall level of interest rates, with a high budget surplus implying a high level of interest rates. B) choose the overall level of interest rates, with a high budget deficit implying a high level of interest rates. C) control the rate of inflation, with a high budget surplus implying a faster rate of inflation. D) control the rate of inflation, with a high budget deficit implying a faster rate of inflation. 38. A major side-effect of a stimulative fiscal policy is that it will A) discriminate in favor of housing. B) crowd out private expenditures. C) increase the natural rate of unemployment. D) permanently raise the rate of inflation. 39. Which of the following was a policy of Roosevelt’s New Deal which is not a part of the Obama stimulus package? A) tax reductions B) infrastructure improvements C) Direct intervention to stop financial institutions from failing D) Federal government direct hiring of the unemployed 40. The Barro-Ricardo Equivalence Theorem assumes all of the following except: A) Individuals value the welfare of their heirs as much as their own welfare. B) Interest rates will remain constant. C) All individuals have children D) Markets for consumer housing and durable goods are perfect. 41. Which of the following will cause the date that the Social Security trust fund runs out of money to be pushed further into the future? A) A decrease in the rate of real GDP growth. B) An increase in the population growth rate. C) A decrease in the growth of the real wage. D) All of the above. 42. A fixed money-supply rule will have the greatest stabilizing effect on output when A) money demand is unstable and commodity demand is stable. B) both money and commodity demand are unstable. C) both money demand and commodity demand are stable. D) the velocity of money is unstable. 43. M1 is a definition of money largely confined to which function(s) of money? A) unit of account B) store of value C) medium of exchange D) B and C. 44. In the empirical validation of the theory of the political business cycle discussed in lecture, which of the following variables measured over the year before the election has been the best predictor of the outcomes of presidential elections? A) the unemployment rate B) the inflation rate C) the growth rate of per capita real GDP D) the level of the federal government fiscal deficit 45. In the empirical validation of the theory of the political business cycle discussed in lecture, which of the following elections is a clear outlier as violating that empirical evidence? A) 1932 B) 1936 C) 1972 D) 1992 E) 2000 How to cite Midterm 2 with Solutions Econ311, Essay examples

Title Evidence, First Movement Words and Things Visual Strategies The Wild Ride Essay Example For Students

Title: Evidence, First Movement: Words and Things Visual Strategies: The Wild Ride Essay Two themes prefi gured in this fi rst chapter and foregrounded later in the fi lm deserve treatment in terms of the visual strategies they employ: the Wild Ride and the hysteric. Our claims as to the methodological ele ment of Christensen’s image- making practices become clearer if we temporarily skip ahead to Hà ¤xan’s depiction of the violent moral disorder of the Wild Ride of the witches to their Sabbats. This scene appears in Chapter 4 of the fi lm and is presented as a visual account of the old woman Maria’s confession to the â€Å"crime† of witchcraft. We will fully analyze the density of this scene in the corresponding chapter of the book, but for now we will focus only on Christensen’s complex use of works of art that originally appeared in fi fteenth- and sixteenth- century texts by Hans Vintler and Johann Geiler42 in the course of creating new cinematic images in Hà ¤xan. Christensen’s pre sen ta tion of the Wild Ride is thrilling by any standard.43 Making use of the special effects available to him at the time, the fury and terror of Hà ¤xan’s female wild riders stands out as one of many highlights of the fi lm. By the early sixteenth century, the Wild Ride had become a standard ele ment of both demonological and pop u lar literary accounts of the activities of witches, folding older legends of wild hunters, the restless travels of the dead at night, and tales of the Furious Horde into the standardized script of the Ride. Particularly strong in what is today southern Germany and Switzerland, variations on the myth of the night people retained their durable immediacy deep into the twentieth century.44 Charles Zika claims that in its vari ous tellings the Furious Horde consisted of â€Å"cavalcades of demonic spirits and souls, especially of those who died before their time and enjoyed no peace— soldiers killed in battle, young children, victims of violent acts, and so on.† 45 Folded into the exegesis of the ninth- century text Canon Episcopi, regarding the power of demonic illusion to deceive women into imagining that they could travel great distances at night, often in the com pany of the goddess Diana, the Wild Ride violently collapsed a multitude of characters and beliefs into a par tic u lar time and a singular image of the witch in sixteenth- century Eu rope. Christensen’s own image of the Ride compels the same collapse, though one that assumes fi delity to empirical evidence in the time of the witch hunts. This is characteristic of Hà ¤xan’s cinematic naturalism. There are many classic examples of images of the Furious Horde and the Wild Ride; two in par tic u lar stand out in relation to Hà ¤xan’s own visualization of the spectacular event. First is a clear correspondence between a woodcut from Hans Vintler’s Buch der Tugend titled Wild Riders on a Wolf, Goat, Boar, and Stool (1486) and the special effect of Christensen’s image of his witches fl ying through the air as part of Maria’s confession in Chapter 4. This woodcut refl ects its origins as a portrayal of Waldensian heresy (the subject of Vintler’s text), depicting the riders, men, and vehicles as mostly animals.46 While Christensen’s image substitutes iconic objects such as brooms and cooking forks for beasts and refl ects a discourse of the witch (found in Kramer in 1486) as being almost singularly female, it nevertheless takes direct inspiration from the classic woodcut in its perspective, its positioning of the riders in the frame, and the emphasis of the subjects that suppress depth of fi eld against the void of an empty background. Vintler’s woodcut, modifi ed naturalistically to mirror the seemingly unnatural and im possible Wild Ride of the witch, moves in the fi lm. Christensen also modifi es and brings to life characteristic repre sen ta tions of the Furious Horde, a super natu ral band that was not originally associated with witchcraft at all. Again, this conjoining of witch image to demonological discourse refl ects an empirically verifi able invention in the late medieval period and the Re nais sance. In par tic u lar, Christensen’s long shots of the witch’s Sabbat, unfolding in the twisted chaos of the deep forest, recalls the woodcut The Furious Horde that appears in the 1516 version of Johann Geiler’s Die Emeis. As with the echo of the Vintler woodcut in the Wild Ride, the perspective, framing, and composition of the image of the Sabbat in Hà ¤xan updates and transforms The Furious Horde, much as demonologists transformed the meaning of the Horde in the invention of the sixteenthcentury witch. Again, Christensen is not only â€Å"inspired† by Geiler’s image; he has in his creative activation of the imag e si mul ta neously produced an effect that corresponds to the empirical evidence of the witch’s coming into being and exhibited what Charlie Kiel has termed â€Å"the oscillating value of the non- fi ctive.† 47 Documentary elements can support, contradict, or even wholly become the narrative in early cinema; Hà ¤xan in this sense is consistent with other contemporary works in the oscillating value of its discrete artifacts. Visually, Hà ¤xan offers innovation to the repre sen ta tion of demons that were commonly circulated in woodcuts, broadsheets, and paintings at the time. While the depiction of vari ous lesser demons and fallen angels was quite common, they tended to be rendered as smaller versions of the horned Satan or as hybrid human– animal creatures with each â€Å"natu ral† species being traceable within the complete appearance of the demonic creature (such as in the Geiler woodcut just mentioned). Hà ¤xan does not simply reproduce these stereotypic images. Instead, Christensen at times broadens his regional frame of reference, drawing on works referring to witchcraft produced outside of German- speaking Eu rope such as Agostino Veneziano’s painting The Carc ass (ca. 1518–35) in relation to the Sabbat, or images that portray super natu ral creatures that appear in negative sixteenth- century â€Å"guides† to pre- Christian Norse myth, particularly some of the woodcuts that accompany Olaus Magnus’s Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalbis (in numerous printings from 1555), which appear to provide the inspiration for the â€Å"demonic children† Maria claims to have given birth to, revealed in her confession. Maria’s confession in Chapter 4 of the fi lm provides additional examples of the breadth of Christensen’s visual assemblage of the witch and her activities. As with the discourse of the witch in the early modern period, fi gures from antiquity such as Saturn and Circe are also alluded to in the repre sen ta tion of the Sabbat in Hà ¤xan. In order to clarify our argument here, it is necessary to briefl y analyze Christensen’s composition of a series of brief shots in the Sabbat that refer to sixteenth- century repre senta tions of Circe and the link they made between the Roman goddess and witchcraft. In Maria’s confession, Circe is indirectly named as â€Å"Satan’s grandmother.† 48 Images associated with games of chance, gambling, tricks, slight of hand, and illusion were often part of Circe’s repertoire. The logic here was that such games, seemingly minor performative elements of pop u lar tricks and entertainment, were actually rooted in the same demonic power of illusion as more obvious forms of malefi cium. Elements of Christensen’s image here appear to be directly referring to a number of we ll- known visual repre senta tions of Circe in the sixteenth century, particularly a woodcut from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and tentatively attributed to Albrecht Dà ¼rer that appeared in the Liber Chronicarum, titled Circe and Her Magical Arts Confronting Ulysses and His Transformed Companions (1493). Although the literal confrontation depicted in this woodcut between Circe and her assistant on the shore and Ulysses and his companions on a boat is absent in Hà ¤xan, the fl owing beauty of Circe herself is echoed in the fi lm’s image and the table cluttered with instruments of chance and magic directly corresponds to the association Christensen is intending to make here. Other surviving images from the time echo Hà ¤xan’s meaning here as well, albeit less directly. Art 2.3 EssayWithin the arc of this movement in Christensen’s fi lm, the objective knowledge of witchcraft is opened to the perception of otherness in the witch, the demonologist, the hysteric, and ultimately the scientist by way of a visible unity of the senses unique to the director’s method. â€Å"The ethnographic surrealist,† wrote James Clifford, â€Å"unlike either the typical art critic or anthropologist of the , delights in cultural impurities and disturbing syncretisms.†57 We are not claiming that Hà ¤xan is ethnographic in its formal approach, yet Clifford’s description does echo the links we are drawing here between radical approaches to the image in art and subversive methods deployed in documenting the real that were roughly contemporary to the fi lm.58 The transgressive approach to the archive, to classifi cation, and to expression that the fi lm exhibits also is akin to methods deployed in the journal Documents (1929–30) nea rly a de cade later. Edited by Georges Bataille, Documents willfully transgressed institutional genres through its â€Å"subversive, nearly anarchic documentary attitude,† an attitude that Christensen plainly shared.59 What distinguished Documents from Warburg’s Mnemosyne and Hà ¤xan is that the former seizes clichà ©d objects and then systematically empties them out in the course of its own expressions. Bataille and his contributors sought to defamiliarize the clichà ©s, disturbing the placidly deceptive surface of the mundane in their fragmentary, juxtaposing methods of critique and pre sen ta tion. In contrast, Warburg and Christensen begin by collecting mythological, fi gurative givens seemingly quite distant from the â€Å" really† real. Starting at radically different places, the outcomes of these projects converge on the same nodal point— unsettling distances between myth and the everyday that in turn produce expressive works that are themselves quite unsettling. It is obvious in light of this shared methodological aspiration why the surrealists would take inspiration from Hà ¤xan, brazenly (and unfairly) advocating Christensen over Dreyer as the Scandinavian fi lmmaker of note in the 1920s.60 David Bordwell groups Hà ¤xan, along with Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Leaves from Satan’s Book (Blade af Satans Bog, 1921), Maurice Tourneur’s Woman (1918), and Fritz Lang’s Destiny (Der mà ¼de Tod, 1921) within a tradition of â€Å"episode fi lms† in the classical period of silent cinema.61 This is consistent with our argument regarding Christensen’s fi lm, as all of these cinematic works weave together episodic fragments in order to draw parallels and correspondences across situations and characters. More explicitly than the others, however, Hà ¤xan also deploys the techniques associated with Warburg’s Mnemosyne and Bataille’s Documents for purposes of affectively emphasizing the dark, chaotic forc es that lurk under the smooth surface of the everyday. The parallels Christensen draws are therefore not simply between characters or situations but across domains of sense that cut across time. Thus, the episodic structure of Hà ¤xan not only allows characters seemingly out of a dead past to live again, it also draws the phenomenology of the hysteric and the work’s own contemporary time to the surface. Shadowed by the specter of an everyday fractured by mechanized global war, Hà ¤xan in turn brings its witches, inquisitors, and hysterics alive in the haunted now of the fi lm’s reception.62 In short, Hà ¤xan is promiscuous. It is neither wholly artistic nor scientifi c. It aspires to seize a quality Ulrich Baer granted only to photography when he wrote, â€Å"Films fail to fascinate in the same way as photographs do, because they invite the viewer to speculate on the future— even when irresistibly tempted to do so— only on the level of plot or formal arrangement. Photographs compel the imagination because they remain radically open- ended.† 63 Hà ¤xan calls Baer’s assertion into question. The opening chapter does not offer a speculation as to the future. It disorients the viewer, leaving her with the insistent, fundamental question, â€Å"What is this thing?† It compresses times past and future into a sequence of clichà ©d images that tr averses the steep slope between past and future in the form of an event. This is not a plot. Rather, it is a strategy to â€Å"compel† the viewer, although we would not limit this compulsion to the imagination alone. In other words, the inability to automatically categorize Hà ¤xan emerges out of a formal strategy rooted in an epistemic virtue. In science, such virtues demand that the subject know the world and not necessarily the self; Hà ¤xan’s demand is greater in its own way as it demands both.64 Thus, while Christensen never backs away from his claim that Hà ¤xan offers a truthful examination of the witch that can stand up to the test, he also deploys strategies of evidence making that would have been familiar to the subjects of his fi lm. As Joseph Leo Koerner puts it: â€Å"In the later Middle Ages, in practices ranging from persecuting witchcraft to meditating on Christ, techniques were developed to draw distinctions among visual phenomena, differentiating, say, physical objects from fantasies, dreams, and diabolical or artful de ceptions. Some of the best testimonies of this sorting operation come from artists. This is not surprising given that image- makers specialized in manipulating one thing (their materials) in order that a viewer should see something else.† 65 While Christensen’s materials might have been radically different than those of an artist in the late Middle Ages, his aim to manipulate these materials in order to make something invisible visible is consistent with his aims. This description, of course, could also be applied to experimental scientifi c techniques without much alteration to the stated aims of tests taken under the signature of such disciplines. For Christensen, objective knowledge itself has been possessed by the uncanny, rendering â€Å"imagination† or â€Å"reason† alone inadequate to bringing the witch to life, to forcing her to speak to what is already known in her pathological language of diabolic proofs. The witch must be experienced in her own milieu, a satanic biome that we will presently argue is one that Christensen represents as her state in nature. As it moves from the fi rst chapter to the second, Hà ¤xan constitutes an extension from the techniques and virtues of Mnemosyne to those of the nature fi lm. In other words, the fi rst chapter of Hà ¤xan is the pre sen ta tion of a series of clichà ©s— visual clichà ©s and ste reo types of the witch, fragments which were most likely already familiar to the viewer. This is hardly a waste of time, however, as these clichà ©s (what Deleuze terms fi gurative givens) will not only provide the empirical evidence for Christensen’s thesis but will also provide media from which the director will conjure the power of the witch. It is im por tant to note that Deleuze discusses fi gurative givens in reference to painting, not cinema; thus, the concept would not seem to readily apply here.66 Yet we suggest that Christensen is attempting to do something quite paradoxical, which is to release the movement of the painting and the woodcut through the cinematic image. Indeed, as we move through the fi lm, we cumulatively gain the sense that Hà ¤xan is a living tableau. This is by no means an accident. The fi lm excels in providing the ground for this sense, possessing the spectator through the immediacy regardless of whether the viewer logically knows that the represented event is already in the distance. This quality sets Hà ¤xan apart.

To Build a Fire Man is Foolish London To Build a Essay Example For Students

To Build a Fire Man is Foolish London To Build a Essay Fire Essays To Build a Fire Man is Foolish How many times have you seen birds flying south for the winter? They do We will write a custom essay on To Build a Fire Man is Foolish London To Build a specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now not read somewhere or use some computer to know that they must fly to survive. In Jack Londons To Build a Fire, we see how that man is sometimes foolish. The man, who is walking in seventy-five degrees below zero weather, lets his learned behavior override his instinct. Therefore, he dies. Londons theme is that no matter how intelligent society becomes, we as a species should never discard our basic instincts. In the beginning of the tale we see that the man realizes it is cold, but only sees this as a fact and not a danger. The man spit on the ground to test how cold it was. His test taught him that it was colder than he had first thought, but he never thought of that as a danger only as a reality. That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head (119). To many times modern man plods along oblivious to the reality that lies one moment or misstep away (Votleler 272). The man sees that he is feeling the effects of the cold more and more as he goes along, but more than ever he pushes on. Several times he comments that the cold is making his hands and feet numbed, and frostbite is killing his cheeks. He thinks What were frosted cheek? A bit painful, that was all. . . (120). Again he chose to ignore an instinct that would have saved him. The dog, on the other hand, although guided by his learned behavior still retains his instincts. The dog follows the man throughout his ill faded journey, but after the man perishes he relies upon his instincts to survive. This is witnessed in the last paragraph by the statement Then it turned and trotted up the trail in the direction of the camp it knew, where there were other food providers and fire providers (129). The theme of Londons To Build a Fire is how we should all take heed to modern knowledge and learned behavior has its benefits, but our primal instincts should never have ignored. The man in the story had lots of knowledge but neglected to pay attention to his sixth sense. The dog on the other hand, followed as long as he could but then let his instincts carry him to safety. We can never have enough knowledge to replace the survival skill that nature has provided us. .

Saying to in German With Nach and Zu

Saying 'to' in German With 'Nach' and 'Zu' There are at least  half a dozen ways  to say to in German. But one of the biggest sources of to confusion comes from just two prepositions:  nach  and  zu. Fortunately, there are clear distinctions between the two. The preposition  nach, except in the idiomatic phrase nach Hause ([to] home, homeward), is used exclusively with geographic place names and points of the compass (including left and right). Most other uses of  nach  are in its meaning of after (nach der Schule   after school) or according to (ihm nach   according to him). Here are some examples of  nach  when it means to:  nach Berlin  (to Berlin),  nach rechts  (to the right),  nach Ãâ€"sterreich  (to Austria). Note, however, that plural or feminine countries, such as die Schweiz, usually use  in  instead of  nach:  in die Schweiz, to Switzerland.   The preposition  zu  is used in most other cases and is always used for to with people:  Geh zu Mutti!, Go to (your) mom! Note that  zu  can also mean too, functioning as an adverb:  zu viel, too much. Another difference between the two is that  nach  is rarely used with an article, while  zu  is often combined with an article or even contracted into a one-word compound, as in  zur Kirche  (zu der Kirche, to the church) or  zum Bahnhof  (zu dem Bahnhof, to the train station). Nach Hause  and  zu Hause Both of these prepositions are used with  Haus(e), but only  nach  means to when used with  Haus. The phrase  zu Hause  means at home, just as  zu Rom  means at/in Rome in that poetic, old-fashioned type of construction. Note that if you want to say to my house/place in German, you say  zu mir  (zu dative pronoun) and the word  Haus  is not used at all! The idiomatic expressions ​nach Hause and zu Hause follow the rules for nach  and zu  given above. Here are some more examples of the uses of  nach  and  zu  (as to): Wir fliegen  nach  Frankfurt.Were flying to Frankfurt. (geographic)Der Wind weht von Westen  nach  Osten.The wind is blowing from west to east. (compass)Wie komme ich  zum  Stadtzentrum?How to I get to the city center? (non-geographic)Ich fahre  nach  Frankreich.Im going to France. (geographic)Gehst du  zur  Kirche?Are you going to church? (non-geographic)Kommt doch  zu  uns!Why dont you guys come over to our place [to us]. (non-geographic)Wir gehen  zur  Bckerei.Were going to the bakery. (non-geographic) Direction/Destination The preposition  zu  expresses the idea of heading in a direction and going to a destination. It is the opposite of  von  (from):  von Haus zu Haus  (from house to house). Although both of the following sentences can be translated as He is going to the university, there is a difference in the German meanings: Er geht  zur  Universitt. (The university is his current destination.)Er geht  an  die Universitt. (Hes a student. He attends the university.) Those Tricky Prepositions Prepositions in any language can be tricky to deal with. They are particularly susceptible to cross-language interference. Just because a phrase is said a certain way in English, does not mean it will be the same in German. As we have seen, both  zu  and  nach  can be used in many ways, and to in German is not always expressed with these two words. Look at these to examples in  English and  German: ten to four  (score)   zehn zu vierten to four  (time)   zehn vor vierI dont want to  Ã‚  ich will nichtto my delight  Ã‚  zu meiner Freudeto my knowledge  Ã‚  meines Wissensbumper to bumper  Ã‚  Stoßstange an Stoßstangeto town  Ã‚  in die Stadtto the office  Ã‚  ins Bà ¼roto a great extent  Ã‚  in hohem Grad/Maße However, if you follow the simple rules on this page for  nach  and  zu, you can avoid making obvious mistakes with those two prepositions when you want to say to. German Prepositions That Can Mean To All of the following prepositions mean several other things besides to: an, auf, bis, in, nach, vor, zu; hin und her  (adverb,  to and fro) Note that German also uses nouns or pronouns in the  dative case  to express to:  mir  (to me),  meiner Mutter  (to my mother),  ihm  (to him).

An Effective Electoral system

An Effective Electoral system Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Law Essay Writing Service . You can view samples of our professional work here . An Effective Electoral system Electoral system or voting system is a system by which voters can make a choice between the options put forward before them. It is often used in an election or when passing a policy referendum. In a democratic state, the electoral process determines who will in charge of the political office. It is the electorate which confers the power to govern and calls government to account. A voting system contains rules for valid voting, and how votes are counted and aggregated to tally the final result   [ 1 ]   . According to Encyclopedia Britannica, electoral system, method and rules of counting votes is used to determine the outcome of elections. Winner may be determined by a plurality, a majority (more than 50% of the vote), an extraordinary majority (a percentage of votes greater than 50%), or unanimity. Candidates for public office may be elected directly or indirectly   [ 2 ]   . In this question, it was asked whether a proper electoral system wo uld be able to uphold rights. Well, first we shall look at what is a proper electoral system? A proper electoral system or also known as a proportional electoral system is a principle which attempts to ensure that the outcome of the election reflects the proportion of support gained by each competing parties. In easier words, a proportional electoral system occurs when there equal amount of votes and seats in the parliament. Proportional electoral system is totally different from the Majoritarian principle. In majoritarian system, party or candidates obtain a plurality of votes within that certain constituency wins that election. Examples of a proportional system are Single Transferrable Vote (STV) and Party List System. A single transferrable vote is a method of election where a voter ranks the candidates in order or preference. This system does not depend on the candidate being grouped into their political parties   [ 3 ]   . The votes would be transferred between candidates i n a manner similar to instant run off voting, but in addition to transferring votes from the candidates who have been eliminated to the next candidate on the list. This method is being applied in Australia, Ireland, Malta, New York, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, and Boulder.   [ 4 ]   This system is a good system as it prevents votes from being wasted; this is because all the votes given by the voters would be taken into account. And through this system, the citizens of that specific area would have more voice to voice out their opinion and problems in the Parliament, as they have not only one representative but a larger choice of representative. STV also protects the minorities. This is because the minority voters may split their votes across party lines. They can also exercise choice among candidates from the same party. However, STV has disadvantages. One of it is that this system is extremely complex, as it requires a large amount time and meticulous mathematical calculatio ns. Party List System on the other hand, is method in which the voters vote for the parties, rather that voting for the individual candidates   [ 5 ]   . For each of the quota of votes a certain party receives, one of their representatives wins a seat in Parliament. This system is being used in most European democracies and also in most newly democratized countries, like South Africa. This system is simple, easy to understand and it works in any uncomplicated manners. It does not require any complicated and time consuming calculations. This system is extremely fair and equitable from the whole distribution of seats. However, the disadvantage of this system is that no single party can secure an absolute majority in the Parliament. It also destroys the valuable local link between the MP and his constituents, as the constituents may not even know their representative. Party List System also places too much power in the hands of those at the top of the party hierarchy.

Professional Challenge-Contemporary Issues and Policies Assignment

Professional Challenge-Contemporary Issues and Policies - Assignment Example In other words, the private health agencies work with the profit motive where as the public health agencies aim for meeting the social obligations. Hence, any change in the health care policy affects significantly the efficiency of public health organization which in turn would influence the health care of the people. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to evaluate the impact of current health care issues and policies on the performance of public health care organization i.e. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), United States of America. VA meets the social obligations by providing a wide range of benefits including, education and training, disability, vocational rehabilitation and employment, dependant and survivor benefits, burial benefits, medical treatment and life insurance. At the same time, VA provides benefits only to some selected and defined sections of the people like veteran, Veterans dependent, surviving spouse, child or parent of a deceased Veteran and uniformed service members. The national health care policy has always been designed keeping the overall welfare of the all the sections of the society in to consideration. For example, a joint VA and Department of Defense program was initiated which provides service members the opportunity to file claims for disability compensation up to 180 days prior to retirement from active duty or full time National Guard or Reserve duty which is very useful for the veterans under emergency circumstances. The national health care policy also facilitated the operatio n of ambulatory care & community based The economic burden of implementing new health care policies is the main factor that decides the success of the organization like VA. Day by day the needs of the patients have been growing necessitating higher number of out door units and ambulance services incurring additional costs. The national health care policy of USA has been ensuring that the

Unit Plan for English learners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Unit Plan for English learners - Essay Example Be able to deal with political issue and to understand how to protect oneself from any political issue The learner should be able to get some English concepts while learning social studies in class Introduce the use of computers in the teaching of social studies Unit objectives By the end of this course the learner should be able to 1. Identify the different types of politics in a given country and to give different countries in the world that use different forms of politics. 2. Identify the different methodologies that can be used to collect data relating to politics and how this can be improved. 3. Identify the different people in the world who have contributed positively and those who have contributed negatively to politics in the world 4. Be able to identify the different themes in journals that they get in class and to explain how each relate with the different politics and how it can be changed 5.Provide a good summary of the things that is learnt in class and how to implement it 6.Be able to present a well written essay about the political scene of the country in good grammar with no grammatical error. 7.Be able to differentiate the different types of citizenship and the roles of international boundaries to the development of the economy of the people in the world as a whole.... 7. Be able to differentiate the different types of citizenship and the roles of international boundaries to the development of the economy of the people in the world as a whole. Fitting the unit to the goals of the subject The main goal of this subject is to teach student to learn how to become responsible people for their country and to know how to make important decisions that pertains to the development of the country. The subject also has the goal of making the learner know how his actions as an individual can affect the whole republic. Apart from the political sides, the learner is also supposed to learn some Basic English concepts. Writing is one of the English concepts that the learner is supposed to grasp from the experience of this writing. Apart from the writing skills the learner should also be able to equip themselves with necessary skills in research work such as the methodology that is to be used in a particular field of study. All these are fulfilled by the study of th is unit. First the objectives of the study ensures that the learner fully understand the political responsibility that he has to fulfill to the nation and what his role to the politics of a nation is. The unit also entails some small research that involves use of different methodologies to find out more about the research thesis. By this the unit is able to achieve one of its major goals which are to enhance the learner to be able to identify the different methodologies that are used in a particular subject. Writing skills is also a goal that is achieved as the learner is able to get some writing skills from the unit. Student characteristics Most of the learners in this class have English as their first language