The Changing Relationship between the Generations Youth Studies Australia

In the contemporary world, the media advocates for the generational changes and the effect it has towards the economy; Australia is no exception. Most of the articles in the Australian society analyze the negative implications of generational changes.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on The Changing Relationship between the Generations’ Youth Studies Australia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, these arguments don not stay for long as they are ultimately forgotten. This is unlike 30 years ago when generational change had an impact to the media and society. Michael Pusey, in his article, argues that the current relations between the young and old generation have been characterized by the mirror-opposite appearance than those, which pre-occupied the social media 30 years back. Indeed, the adversity of the generational gap in the current society is the vital issue that Pusey expresses in his art icle. According to Pusey (2007), the generational gap has been ignored in the current Australia economy. After the World War II, Australian government shared the resources equally as they were focused majorly on the gap that existed between the generations. The author argues that for the national income to be distributed equally in the economy, cultural conflicts should be addressed. Indeed, inequalities do exist between the baby boomers and their children and this has necessitated food insecurity among the residents. Therefore, it is critical that the concerned party needs to address the effect of generation change. Upon putting into consideration the impeccable effects that will be faced in the economy, the government will ensure economic tranquillity. In regard to the current economy reforms of Australia, the author argues that it does not favour the young generation the way it favoured the older generation. In addition, the author argues that in the near future, the young genera tion will be subjected to unnecessary responsibilities. As there are large numbers of retirees, the author claims that they will all be depending on the young generation for income support. With the existence of high unemployment rate in the current economy, the youth will be imposed with burden when footing the retirement bill for the older generation (Norton, 2003). As such, it increased the generational gap in the near future.Advertising Looking for critical writing on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, the mirror-opposite appearance in the generational change is evidenced by the income distribution. It is important to note that economic restructuring is long term. This implies that any changes in the income distribution in the economy will not be effected until after a period of 20 years; as illustrated by the Australian economy. Ideally, the older generation believed that men were the breadwinne rs in the family and the speculated income distribution for 20 years focused on the Men’s income. In the current economy, the women are also breadwinners in the household and the comparable figures will be misleading leading to generational gap. Consequently, the lifetime income has decreased due to lack of regulation in the labour market by the Australian government. In the older generation, lifetime income was extremely high unlike in the current society. This has been attributed to the increase in longevity in the current generation (Pusey, 2003). The compressed retirement benefits have been squeezed, and as an individual retires at an age of 55 years, one has 25 years more to budget for this small amount of retirement benefits. This was not the case in the past as they were able to access a huge amount of retirement benefits. As they had a lifespan of 65 years, they had only 10 years to budget for their retirement benefits. This clearly shows a mirror-opposite appearance in the generational change. In addition, unlike the past, finance and superannuation have been degenerated. After the government privatised the superannuation industry, there has been an imposition of fees and charges by the financial institutions. This imposes a burden to families in supporting the new generation in their endeavour. Other factors that have increased the generation gap include deregulation of housing loans, and privatisation of health and education. The issues leading to the generational gap, as highlighted above, are relevant to the course. The government will impose measures necessary to combat the increase in the generational gap. This will have a positive impact on the international relations, as such, enhancing their economical stability among the new and older generation.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on The Changing Relationship between the Generations’ Youth Studies Australia specifically for you for only $16 .05 $11/page Learn More International relations focus on understanding of the geographical territories regarding the economies, politics, cultural believes among others. In order to meet the international relations’ demands, the government needs to stabilize the internal forces; among them is the generational gap. In this article, Michael Pusey (2007) argues that, although the reforms put in place in the economic front have produced results, especially by creating wealth to a majority of people on the verge of retirement, the legacy of this wealth could as well be a starting point for what the author call an economic gap. According to Pusey (2003), Australia has experienced a good boom, which was underpinned by historically low rates of unemployment and a high demand for the countries mineral resources. Indeed, as the author posits that the economic boom hid something bigger. According to Pusey, the talk of economic boom, masked incomes in those real incomes we re not increasing. It would not be possible for the young generation to generate as much income as the one that is retiring at the moment. In economic terms, then this is a big problem as it is the starting point for greater income inequalities among generations. However on the cultural side it is a very impressive story because people are able to relate with other well in a manner that was not so in the last 30 to 40 years or so. At this time, according to Pusey, there were many prejudices and conservative moral obligations (Pusey, 2007). However, at the moment about one third of the young generations are staying with their parents whom they see as their most influential people in their lives, even more important to them that their peers. Indeed even the parents claim to enjoy the presence of their children. In short, the author makes two assumptions. One is that the economic boom was responsible for the widening generation gap. The second assumption was that culture has an importa nt part to play in bringing the generation gap.Advertising Looking for critical writing on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Pusey (2007), unemployment rates have gone up, that the young people do not get into full employment until the age of 27 or 28. However, his argument does not seem to hold much water and seem to rest on public opinions. The author has not shown explicitly whether the economic conditions, that are responsible for the widening generation gap, did exist. In addition, he has not shown how these conditions were shaped by the economic reform of the last twenty or so years. In his claim that the economic reforms were responsible for increased unemployment, the author fails to explain why unemployment went up and down during the era of economic reforms as it can be deduced from his own data (Norton, 2003). Michael Pusey believes that economic reform was a direct result of the cold war and that families are the biggest losers because of economic reforms. This is because they are caught in the middle of economic reforms and cultural norms and values that are inherited from the pa rents. However, Pusey seems not to offer a balance approach in his blanket condemnation of economic reforms. There is no mention of factors such as advancements in technology or even shifts in consumer preferences, and natural disasters that occurred in the time the author tends to refers to. On the cultural side, the author shows how family values and norms bridge the gap brought about by economic reforms. Parents are doing what the author call â€Å"intergenerational transfers.† The parents are using their money to help children put up a deposit for their homes, and also they are helping the children pay off HECS. Therefore, culture plays an important part in compensating the destruction brought about by economic reforms. The issues raised by the author are important in understanding the building blocks of a vibrant society. References Norton, A. (2003). Michael in a Muddle: Michael Pusey’s bungled attack on economic reform. Issue Analysis 34(2): 1-9. Pusey, M. (2003 ). The Experience of Middle Australia: The Dark Side of Economic Reform, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press Pusey, M. (2003), ‘An Australian story: The Troubling Experience of Economic Reform’ Australian Senate Occasional Lecture Series, Parliament House, retrieved from web. Pusey, M. (2007), ‘The Changing Relationship between the Generations †¦ It Could Even be Good News’, Youth Studies Australia 26(1): 9-17. This critical writing on The Changing Relationship between the Generations’ Youth Studies Australia was written and submitted by user Brianna Snyder to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

US Involvement in Southeast Asia essays

US Involvement in Southeast Asia essays Through a good portion of the 20th century, the US had many different forms of involvement in Southeast Asia. During this time, the United States was under the leadership of several different presidents. Therefore, the foreign policy, especially concerning Southeast Asia and Vietnam, was constantly changing. The first president to deal with communism in foreign countries was President Harry Truman. This started in 1945 when Truman adopted the policy of containment. The objective was to prevent communism from spreading around the world. Truman wanted to target Southeast Asia in particular because with so many little neighboring countries, they were the most vulnerable to falling to communism. Then from 1952-1960 Eisenhower took over the leadership of the US as president. Eisenhower stayed with Trumans theme of containment but added his own theories into the policy. Eisenhower adopted something called the Domino Theory. This meant that it was thought that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to communism, they all would just like dominos in a row. This theory led to the first actual US involvement in Southeast Asia. In 1930 Ho Chi Minh started the first communist party in Vietnam. At that point in time Vietnam was a French colony. However, Ho Chi Minh started the movement to get rid of France and have their own free country. Because of Eisenhowers Domino Theory, the US sent money to aid France in fighting the Vietnamese in order to prevent communism from spreading. Despite the attempts to stop Ho Chi Minh, France was defeated in 1954. The Geneva Conference was held in order to decide the future of Vietnam. The plan called the Geneva Accords was that Vietnam would be divided at the 38th parallel (the Line of Demarcation), foreign troops would leave in two years, and in two years Vietnam would be unified and a free election would be held for the entire free nation. However, ...

An Overview of Operation Allied Force in Kosovo

An Overview of Operation Allied Force in Kosovo In 1998, the long-simmering conflict between the Slobodan MiloÃ… ¡evics Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Liberation Army erupted into full-scale fighting. Battling to end Serbian oppression, the KLA also sought independence for Kosovo. On January 15, 1999, Yugoslav forces massacred 45 Kosovar Albanians in the village of Racak. News of the incident sparked global outrage and led NATO to issue an ultimatum to MiloÃ… ¡evics government calling for an end to the fighting and Yugoslavian compliance with the demands of the international community. Operation Allied Force To settle the issue, a peace conference opened at Rambouillet, France with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana serving as a mediator. After weeks of talks, the Rambouillet Accords were signed by the Albanians, United States, and Great Britain. These called for NATO administration of Kosovo as an autonomous province, a force of 30,000 peacekeepers, and free right of passage through Yugoslav territory. These terms were refused by MiloÃ… ¡evic, and the talks quickly broke down. With the failure at Rambouillet, NATO prepared to launch air strikes to force the Yugoslavian government back to the table. Dubbed Operation Allied Force, NATO stated that their military operations were undertaken to achieve: A stop to all military action and repression in KosovoThe withdrawal of all Serbian forces from KosovoAgreement to the presence of an international peacekeeping force in KosovoThe unconditional and safe return of all refugees and unhindered access to them by humanitarian organizationsA credible assurance from MiloÃ… ¡evics government that it was willing to work on the basis of the Rambouillet Accords in creating an acceptable political framework for the future of Kosovo Once it was demonstrated that Yugoslavia was adhering to these terms, NATO stated that their air strikes would cease. Flying from bases in Italy and carriers in the Adriatic Sea, NATO aircraft and cruise missiles began attacking targets on the evening on March 24, 1999. The first strikes were conducted against targets in Belgrade and were flown by aircraft from the Spanish Air Force. Oversight for the operation was delegated to the Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe, Admiral James O. Ellis, USN. Over the next ten weeks, NATO aircraft flew over 38,000 sorties against Yugoslav forces. While Allied Force began with surgical attacks against high-level and strategic military targets, it was soon expanded to include Yugoslavian forces on the ground in Kosovo. As air strikes continued into April, it became clear that both sides had misjudged their oppositions will to resist. With MiloÃ… ¡evic refusing to comply with NATO demands, planning began for a ground campaign to expel Yugoslav forces from Kosovo. Targeting was also expanded to include dual-use facilities such as bridges, power plants, and telecommunications infrastructure. Early May saw several errors by NATO aircraft including the accidental bombing of a Kosovar Albanian refugee convoy and a strike again the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Sources have subsequently indicated that the latter may have been intentional with the goal of eliminating radio equipment being used by the Yugoslav army. As NATO aircraft continued their attacks, MiloÃ… ¡evics forces worsened the refugee crisis in the region by forcing Kosovar Albanians from the province. Ultimately, over 1 million people were displaced from their homes, increasing NATOs resolve and support for its involvement. As the bombs fell, Finnish and Russian negotiators continuously worked to end the conflict. In early June, with NATO preparing for a ground campaign, they were able to convince MiloÃ… ¡evic to give in to the alliances demands. On June 10, 1999, he agreed to NATOs terms, including the presence of a United Nations peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Two days later, Kosovo Force (KFOR), led by Lieutenant General Mike Jackson (British Army), which had been staging for an invasion, crossed the border to return to peace and stability to Kosovo. Aftermath Operation Allied Force cost NATO two soldiers killed (outside of combat) and two aircraft. Yugoslavian forces lost between 130-170 killed in Kosovo, as well as five aircraft and 52 tanks/artillery/vehicles. Following the conflict, NATO agreed to allow the United Nations to supervise the administration of Kosovo and that no independence referendum would be permitted for three years. As a result of his actions during the conflict, Slobodan MiloÃ… ¡evic was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He was overthrown the following year. On February 17, 2008, after several years of negotiations at the UN, Kosovo controversially declared independence. Operation Allied Force is also notable as the first conflict in which the German Luftwaffe took part since World War II. Selected Sources NATO: Operation Allied ForceGlobal Security: Operation Allied Force

Analyse the role of peer and self-assessment in the assessment process Essay

Analyse the role of peer and self-assessment in the assessment process - Essay Example In case of weakness, they learn from their mistakes and study how to tame or counter them. This learning method helps to remove the notion that learning is just a passive process where students listen to someone and get what he says. Here one listens to themselves and their peers. This process makes students more involved in the learning process. The more involved they are, the more effective the learning process is. David klob defines self-assessment learning as a process a spiral learning way, which takes into consideration all the fundamentals of learning. These are thinking, reflecting, experiencing, and acting. This makes it very effective (Lippincott, J. 1999, 67). This learning method also helps one to know the requirements that they need in order to achieve a certain goal. Having known their strengths and weakness, this is easier since they know the target they have to set for certain disciplines. They tend to know their expectations, and how to achieve them. Self-assessment can be used in two ways. It can be used in a summative or formative way. In most cases, it is used formatively. In formative ones, peer sets their standards for them; whereas, summative mostly includes the use of group work to set ones target (Catherine. 2011, 25). Lippincott, J. K., 1999. Collaboration Between Librarians And Information Technologists A Case Study Employing Kolbs Experiential Learning Theory, Thesis (Ph. D.)--University Of Maryland at College

The role of the local police in preventing and responding to the Term Paper

The role of the local police in preventing and responding to the threat of terrorism - Term Paper Example This situation has naturally resulted in the need for the local police to play an important role in the prevention of terrorist acts as well as the apprehension of perpetrators who may belong to any terror group, whether domestic or international in origin. At the moment, there may still be a need for the local police to fully appreciate this role in homeland counter-terrorism and develop strategies and tactics that would give a concrete expression of it. It is clear that the usually more equipped and trained defense machineries of the government are already occupied with the offensive side of the war on terrorism. In line with the theory of pre-emptive warfare, a great part of the U.S. military’s might have been stationed outside of the homeland, particularly in regions of the world where the concentration of foreign terrorist organizations is heavy. The orientation of the different branches of the armed forces is towards forward deployment. Under this circumstance, the quest ion about who is going to watch the rear demands an urgent answer. It is clear that the federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and even the respective state’s national guards may not be enough because of their inadequate number and concentration. The local police forces, on the other hand, have two advantages in this regard. Although they are not concentrated, they have a bigger number of personnel that could be mobilized for counter-terrorism. Secondly, they are more dispersed with distinct smaller areas of jurisdiction, making it possible for them to monitor dubious and illegal movements more convenient and effective. It is in these contexts that the potential of the local police forces in anti-terrorism are appreciated. I. The Limitations of the Local Police Force With the lethal attacks launched in 9/11 and the possibility of more similar strikes in American soil, convincing key leaders of the local police regarding the need to take a proactive stance against terrorism is not difficult. It is a fact that after 9/11, the top officers of the New York Police Department, as well as that of the other major urban centers in the country, have acknowledged to reorient their personnel and to include counter-terrorism as part of their roles and responsibilities. However, there is also the reality that the local police simply does not have the training and the equipment which could be utilized for the purpose of determining potential threats, investigating possible suspects, and apprehending them before the terrorist action is committed and, thereby prevent the loss of lives and the damage to properties. More importantly, the intelligence capabilities of the local police are not as sophisticated as that of the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency. The intelligence data, as well as the dossiers built through the years on key leaders and operatives of different terrorist groups, have not been made accessible to the local police forces, as these remained under the exclusive control of the FBI, the CIA, and other defense and intelligence machinery of the federal government. In this respect, â€Å"the tremendous demand now being placed on police agencies to collect information and provide it a central clearing house in order to develop and coordinate intelligence on terrorist risks throughout the country† (Hasisi et al 2009, p. 193). It is clear that when it

Japanese Industrialization and Economic Growth Essay Example for Free

Japanese Industrialization and Economic Growth Essay Japan achieved sustained growth in per capita income between the 1880s and 1970 through industrialization. Moving along an income growth trajectory through expansion of manufacturing is hardly unique. Indeed Western Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States all attained high levels of income per capita by shifting from agrarian-based production to manufacturing and technologically sophisticated service sector activity. Still, there are four distinctive features of Japans development through industrialization that merit discussion: The proto-industrial base Japans agricultural productivity was high enough to sustain substantial craft (proto-industrial) production in both rural and urban areas of the country prior to industrialization. Investment-led growth Domestic investment in industry and infrastructure was the driving force behind growth in Japanese output. Both private and public sectors invested in infrastructure, national and local governments serving as coordinating agents for infrastructure build-up. * Investment in manufacturing capacity was largely left to the private sector. * Rising domestic savings made increasing capital accumulation possible. * Japanese growth was investment-led, not export-led. Total factor productivity growth achieving more output per unit of input was rapid. On the supply side, total factor productivity growth was extremely important. Scale economies the reduction in per unit costs due to increased levels of output contributed to total factor productivity growth. Scale economies existed due to geographic concentration, to growth of the national economy, and to growth in the output of individual companies. In addition, companies moved down the learning curve, reducing unit costs as their cumulative output rose and demand for their product soared. The social capacity for importing and adapting foreign technology improved and this contributed to total factor productivity growth: * At the household level, investing in education of children improved social capability. * At the firm level, creating internalized labor markets that bound firms to workers and workers to firms, thereby giving workers a strong incentive to flexibly adapt to new technology, improved social capability. * At the government level, industrial policy that reduced the cost to private firms of securing foreign technology enhanced social capacity. Shifting out of low-productivity agriculture into high productivity manufacturing, mining, and construction contributed to total factor productivity growth. Dualism Sharply segmented labor and capital markets emerged in Japan after the 1910s. The capital intensive sector enjoying high ratios of capital to labor paid relatively high wages, and the labor intensive sector paid relatively low wages. Dualism contributed to income inequality and therefore to domestic social unrest. After 1945 a series of public policy reforms addressed inequality and erased much of the social bitterness around dualism that ravaged Japan prior to World War II. The remainder of this article will expand on a number of the themes mentioned above. The appendix reviews quantitative evidence concerning these points. The conclusion of the article lists references that provide a wealth of detailed evidence supporting the points above, which this article can only begin to explore. The Legacy of Autarky and the Proto-Industrial Economy: Achievements of Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868) Why Japan? Given the relatively poor record of countries outside the European cultural area few achieving the kind of catch-up growth Japan managed between 1880 and 1970 the question naturally arises: why Japan? After all, when the United States forcibly opened Japan in the 1850s and Japan was forced to cede extra-territorial rights to a number of Western nations as had China earlier in the 1840s, many Westerners and Japanese alike thought Japans prospects seemed dim indeed. Tokugawa achievements: urbanization, road networks, rice cultivation, craft production In answering this question, Mosk (2001), Minami (1994) and Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) emphasize the achievements of Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868) during a long period of closed country autarky between the mid-seventeenth century and the 1850s: a high level of urbanization; well developed road networks; the channeling of river water flow with embankments and the extensive elaboration of irrigation ditches that supported and encouraged the refinement of rice cultivation based upon improving seed varieties, fertilizers and planting methods especially in the Southwest with its relatively long growing season; the development of proto-industrial (craft) production by merchant houses in the major cities like Osaka and Edo (now called Tokyo) and its diffusion to rural areas after 1700; and the promotion of education and population control among both the military elite (the samurai) and the well-to-do peasantr y in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Tokugawa political economy: daimyo and shogun These developments were inseparable from the political economy of Japan. The system of confederation government introduced at the end of the fifteenth century placed certain powers in the hands of feudal warlords, daimyo, and certain powers in the hands of the shogun, the most powerful of the warlords. Each daimyo and the shogun was assigned a geographic region, a domain, being given taxation authority over the peasants residing in the villages of the domain. Intercourse with foreign powers was monopolized by the shogun, thereby preventing daimyo from cementing alliances with other countries in an effort to overthrow the central government. The samurai military retainers of thedaimyo were forced to abandon rice farming and reside in the castle town headquarters of their daimyo overlord. In exchange, samurai received rice stipends from the rice taxes collected from the villages of their domain. By removingsamurai from the countryside by demilitarizing rural areas conflicts over local water rights were largely made a thing of the past. As a result irrigation ditches were extended throughout the valleys, and riverbanks were shored up with stone embankments, facilitating transport and preventing flooding. The sustained growth of proto-industrialization in urban Japan, and its widespread diffusion to villages after 1700 was also inseparable from the productivity growth in paddy rice production and the growing of industrial crops like tea, fruit, mulberry plant growing (that sustained the raising of silk cocoons) and cotton. Indeed, Smith (1988) has given pride of place to these domestic sources of Japans future industrial success. Readiness to emulate the West As a result of these domestic advances, Japan was well positioned to take up the Western challenge. It harnessed its infrastructure, its high level of literacy, and its proto-industrial distribution networks to the task of emulating Western organizational forms and Western techniques in energy production, first and foremost enlisting inorganic energy sources like coal and the other fossil fuels to generate steam power. Having intensively developed the organic economy depending upon natural energy flows like wind, water and fire, Japanese were quite prepared to master inorganic production after the Black Ships of the Americans forced Japan to jettison its long-standing autarky. From Balanced to Dualistic Growth, 1887-1938: Infrastructure and Manufacturing Expand Fukoku Kyohei After the Tokugawa government collapsed in 1868, a new Meiji government committed to the twin policies of fukoku kyohei (wealthy country/strong military) took up the challenge of renegotiating its treaties with the Western powers. It created infrastructure that facilitated industrialization. It built a modern navy and army that could keep the Western powers at bay and establish a protective buffer zone in North East Asia that eventually formed the basis for a burgeoning Japanese empire in Asia and the Pacific. Central government reforms in education, finance and transportation Jettisoning the confederation style government of the Tokugawa era, the new leaders of the new Meiji government fashioned a unitary state with powerful ministries consolidating authority in the capital, Tokyo. The freshly minted Ministry of Education promoted compulsory primary schooling for the masses and elite university education aimed at deepening engineering and scientific knowledge. The Ministry of Finance created the Bank of Japan in 1882, laying the foundations for a private banking system backed up a lender of last resort. The government began building a steam railroad trunk line girding the four major islands, encouraging private companies to participate in the project. In particular, the national government committed itself to constructing a Tokaido line connecting the Tokyo/Yokohama region to the Osaka/Kobe conurbation along the Pacific coastline of the main island of Honshu, and to creating deepwater harbors at Yokohama and Kobe that could accommodate deep-hulled steamships. Not surprisingly, the merchants in Osaka, the merchant capital of Tokugawa Japan, already well versed in proto-industrial production, turned to harnessing steam and coal, investing heavily in integrated sp inning and weaving steam-driven textile mills during the 1880s. Diffusion of best-practice agriculture At the same time, the abolition of the three hundred or so feudal fiefs that were the backbone of confederation style-Tokugawa rule and their consolidation into politically weak prefectures, under a strong national government that virtually monopolized taxation authority, gave a strong push to the diffusion of best practice agricultural technique. The nationwide diffusion of seed varieties developed in the Southwest fiefs of Tokugawa Japan spearheaded a substantial improvement in agricultural productivity especially in the Northeast. Simultaneously, expansion of agriculture using traditional Japanese technology agriculture and manufacturing using imported Western technology resulted. Balanced growth Growth at the close of the nineteenth century was balanced in the sense that traditional and modern technology using sectors grew at roughly equal rates, and labor especially young girls recruited out of farm households to labor in the steam using textile mills flowed back and forth between rural and urban Japan at wages that were roughly equal in industrial and agricultural pursuits. Geographic economies of scale in the Tokaido belt Concentration of industrial production first in Osaka and subsequently throughout the Tokaido belt fostered powerful geographic scale economies (the ability to reduce per unit costs as output levels increase), reducing the costs of securing energy, raw materials and access to global markets for enterprises located in the great harbor metropolises stretching from the massive Osaka/Kobe complex northward to the teeming Tokyo/Yokohama conurbation. Between 1904 and 1911, electrification mainly due to the proliferation of intercity electrical railroads created economies of scale in the nascent industrial belt facing outward onto the Pacific. The consolidation of two huge hydroelectric power grids during the 1920s one servicing Tokyo/Yokohama, the other Osaka and Kobe further solidified the comparative advantage of the Tokaido industrial belt in factory production. Finally, the widening and paving during the 1920s of roads that could handle buses and trucks was also pioneered by the grea t metropolises of the Tokaido, which further bolstered their relative advantage in per capita infrastructure. Organizational economies of scale zaibatsu In addition to geographic scale economies, organizational scale economies also became increasingly important in the late nineteenth centuries. The formation of the zaibatsu (financial cliques), which gradually evolved into diversified industrial combines tied together through central holding companies, is a case in point. By the 1910s these had evolved into highly diversified combines, binding together enterprises in banking and insurance, trading companies, mining concerns, textiles, iron and steel plants, and machinery manufactures. By channeling profits from older industries into new lines of activity like electrical machinery manufacturing, the zaibatsu form of organization generated scale economies in finance, trade and manufacturing, drastically reducing information-gathering and transactions costs. By attracting relatively scare managerial and entrepreneurial talent, the zaibatsu format economized on human resources. Electrification The push into electrical machinery production during the 1920s had a revolutionary impact on manufacturing. Effective exploitation of steam power required the use of large central steam engines simultaneously driving a large number of machines power looms and mules in a spinning/weaving plant for instance throughout a factory. Small enterprises did not mechanize in the steam era. But with electrification the unit drive system of mechanization spread. Each machine could be powered up independently of one another. Mechanization spread rapidly to the smallest factory. Emergence of the dualistic economy With the drive into heavy industries chemicals, iron and steel, machinery the demand for skilled labor that would flexibly respond to rapid changes in technique soared. Large firms in these industries began offering premium wages and guarantees of employment in good times and bad as a way of motivating and holding onto valuable workers. A dualistic economy emerged during the 1910s. Small firms, light industry and agriculture offered relatively low wages. Large enterprises in the heavy industries offered much more favorable remuneration, extending paternalistic benefits like company housing and company welfare programs to their internal labor markets. As a result a widening gulf opened up between the great metropolitan centers of the Tokaido and rural Japan. Income per head was far higher in the great industrial centers than in the hinterland. Clashing urban/rural and landlord/tenant interests The economic strains of emergent dualism were amplified by the slowing down of technological progress in the agricultural sector, which had exhaustively reaped the benefits due to regional diffusion from the Southwest to the Northeast of best practice Tokugawa rice cultivation. Landlords around 45% of the cultivable rice paddy land in Japan was held in some form of tenancy at the beginning of the twentieth century who had played a crucial role in promoting the diffusion of traditional best practice techniques now lost interest in rural affairs and turned their attention to industrial activities. Tenants also found their interests disregarded by the national authorities in Tokyo, who were increasingly focused on supplying cheap foodstuffs to the burgeoning industrial belt by promoting agricultural production within the empire that it was assembling through military victories. Japan secured Taiwan from China in 1895, and formally brought Korea under its imperial rule in 1910 upon the heels of its successful war against Russia in 1904-05. Tenant unions reacted to this callous disrespect of their needs through violence. Landlord/tenant disputes broke out in the early 1920s, and continued to plague Japan politically throughout the 1930s, calls for land reform and bureaucratic proposals for reform being rejected by a Diet (Japans legislature) politically dominated by landlords. Japans military expansion Japans thrust to imperial expansion was inflamed by the growing instability of the geopolitical and international trade regime of the later 1920s and early 1930s. The relative decline of the United Kingdom as an economic power doomed a gold standard regime tied to the British pound. The United States was becoming a potential contender to the United Kingdom as the backer of a gold standard regime but its long history of high tariffs and isolationism deterred it from taking over leadership in promoting global trade openness. Germany and the Soviet Union were increasingly becoming industrial and military giants on the Eurasian land mass committed to ideologies hostile to the liberal democracy championed by the United Kingdom and the United States. It was against this international backdrop that Japan began aggressively staking out its claim to being the dominant military power in East Asia and the Pacific, thereby bringing it into conflict with the United States and the United Kingdom i n the Asian and Pacific theaters after the world slipped into global warfare in 1939. Reform and Reconstruction in a New International Economic Order, Japan after World War II Postwar occupation: economic and institutional restructuring Surrendering to the United States and its allies in 1945, Japans economy and infrastructure was revamped under the S.C.A.P (Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers) Occupation lasting through 1951. As Nakamura (1995) points out, a variety of Occupation-sponsored reforms transformed the institutional environment conditioning economic performance in Japan. The major zaibatsu were liquidated by the Holding Company Liquidation Commission set up under the Occupation (they were revamped as keiretsu corporate groups mainly tied together through cross-shareholding of stock in the aftermath of the Occupation); land reform wiped out landlordism and gave a strong push to agricultural productivity through mechanization of rice cultivation; and collective bargaining, largely illegal under the Peace Preservation Act that was used to suppress union organizing during the interwar period, was given the imprimatur of constitutional legality. Finally, education was opened up, partly through making middle school compulsory, partly through the creation of national universities in each of Japans forty-six prefectures. Improvement in the social capability for economic growth In short, from a domestic point of view, the social capability for importing and adapting foreign technology was improved with the reforms in education and the fillip to competition given by the dissolution of the zaibatsu. Resolving tension between rural and urban Japan through land reform and the establishment of a rice price support program that guaranteed farmers incomes comparable to blue collar industrial workers also contributed to the social capacity to absorb foreign technology by suppressing the political divisions between metropolitan and hinterland Japan that plagued the nation during the interwar years. Japan and the postwar international order The revamped international economic order contributed to the social capability of importing and adapting foreign technology. The instability of the 1920s and 1930s was replaced with replaced with a relatively predictable bipolar world in which the United States and the Soviet Union opposed each other in both geopolitical and ideological arenas. The United States became an architect of multilateral architecture designed to encourage trade through its sponsorship of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the predecessor to the World Trade Organization). Under the logic of building military alliances to contain Eurasian Communism, the United States brought Japan under its nuclear umbrella with a bilateral security treaty. American companies were encouraged to license technology to Japanese companies in the new international environment. Japan redirected its trade away from the areas that had been incorporated i nto the Japanese Empire before 1945, and towards the huge and expanding American market. Miracle Growth: Soaring Domestic Investment and Export Growth, 1953-1970 Its infrastructure revitalized through the Occupation period reforms, its capacity to import and export enhanced by the new international economic order, and its access to American technology bolstered through its security pact with the United States, Japan experienced the dramatic Miracle Growth between 1953 and the early 1970s whose sources have been cogently analyzed by Denison and Chung (1976). Especially striking in the Miracle Growth period was the remarkable increase in the rate of domestic fixed capital formation, the rise in the investment proportion being matched by a rising savings rate whose secular increase especially that of private household savings has been well documented and analyzed by Horioka (1991). While Japan continued to close the gap in income per capita between itself and the United States after the early 1970s, most scholars believe that large Japanese manufacturing enterprises had b y and large become internationally competitive by the early 1970s. In this sense it can be said that Japan had completed its nine decade long convergence to international competitiveness through industrialization by the early 1970s. MITI There is little doubt that the social capacity to import and adapt foreign technology was vastly improved in the aftermath of the Pacific War. Creating social consensus with Land Reform and agricultural subsidies reduced political divisiveness, extending compulsory education and breaking up the zaibatsu had a positive impact. Fashioning the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (M.I.T.I.) that took responsibility for overseeing industrial policy is also viewed as facilitating Japans social capability. There is no doubt that M.I.T.I. drove down the cost of securing foreign technology. By intervening between Japanese firms and foreign companies, it acted as a single buyer of technology, playing off competing American and European enterprises in order to reduce the royalties Japanese concerns had to pay on technology licenses. By keeping domestic patent periods short, M.I.T.I. encouraged rapid diffusion of technology. And in some cases the experience of International Business Machines (I.B.M.), enjoying a virtual monopoly in global mainframe computer markets during the 1950s and early 1960s, is a classical case M.I.T.I. made it a condition of entry into the Japanese market (through the creation of a subsidiary Japan I.B.M. in the case of I.B.M.) that foreign companies share many of their technological secrets with potential Japanese competitors. How important industrial policy was for Miracle Growth remains controversial, however. The view of Johnson (1982), who hails industrial policy as a pillar of the Japanese Development State (government promoting economic growth through state policies) has been criticized and revised by subsequent scholars. The book by Uriu (1996) is a case in point. Internal labor markets, just-in-time inventory and quality control circles Furthering the internalization of labor markets the premium wages and long-term employment guarantees largely restricted to white col lar workers were extended to blue collar workers with the legalization of unions and collective bargaining after 1945 also raised the social capability of adapting foreign technology. Internalizing labor created a highly flexible labor force in post-1950 Japan. As a result, Japanese workers embraced many of the key ideas of Just-in-Time inventory control and Quality Control circles in assembly industries, learning how to do rapid machine setups as part and parcel of an effort to produce components just-in-time and without defect. Ironically, the concepts of just-in-time and quality control were originally developed in the United States, just-in-time methods being pioneered by supermarkets and quality control by efficiency experts like W. Edwards Deming. Yet it was in Japan that these concepts were relentlessly pursued to revolutionize assembly line industries during the 1950s and 1960s. Ultimate causes of the Japanese economic miracle Miracle Growth was the completion of a protracted historical process involving enhancing human capital, massive accumulation of physical capital including infrastructure and private manufacturing capacity, the importation and adaptation of foreign technology, and the creation of scale economies, which took decades and decades to realize. Dubbed a miracle, it is best seen as the reaping of a bountiful harvest whose seeds were painstakingly planted in the six decades between 1880 and 1938. In the course of the nine decades between the 1880s and 1970, Japan amassed and lost a sprawling empire, reorienting its trade and geopolitical stance through the twists and turns of history. While the ultimate sources of growth can be ferreted out through some form of statistical accounting, the specific way these sources were marshaled in practice is inseparable from the history of Japan itself and of the global environment within which it has realized its industrial destiny. Appendix: Sources of Growth Accounting and Quantitative Aspects of Japans Modern Economic Development One of the attractions of studying Japans post-1880 economic development is the abundance of quantitative data documenting Japans growth. Estimates of Japanese income and output by sector, capital stock and labor force extend back to the 1880s, a period when Japanese income per capita was low. Consequently statistical probing of Japans long-run growth from relative poverty to abundance is possible. The remainder of this appendix is devoted to introducing the reader to the vast literature on quantitative analysis of Japans economic development from the 1880s until 1970, a nine decade period during which Japanese income per capita converged towards income per capita levels in Western Europe. As the reader will see, this discussion confirms the importance of factors discussed at the outset of this article. Our initial touchstone is the excellent sources of growth accounting analysis carried out by Denison and Chung (1976) on Japans growth between 1953 and 1971. Attributing growth in national income in growth of inputs, the factors of production capital and labor and growth in output per unit of the two inputs combined (total factor productivity) along the following lines: G(Y) = { a G(K) + [1-a] G(L) } + G (A) where G(Y) is the (annual) growth of national output, g(K) is the growth rate of capital services, G(L) is the growth rate of labor services, a is capitals share in national income (the share of income accruing to owners of capital), and G(A) is the growth of total factor productivity, is a standard approach used to approximate the sources of growth of income. Using a variant of this type of decomposition that takes into account improvements in the quality of capital and labor, estimates of scale economies and adjustments for structural change (shifting labor out of agriculture helps explain why total factor productivity grows), Denison and Chung (1976) generate a useful set of estimates for Japans Miracle Growth era. Operating with this sources of growth approach and proceeding under a variety of plausible assumptions, Denison and Chung (1976) estimate that of Japans average annual real national income growth of 8.77 % over 1953-71, input growth accounted for 3.95% (accounting for 45% of total growth) and growth in output per unit of input contributed 4.82% (accounting for 55% of total growth). To be sure, the precise assumptions and techniques they use can be criticized. The precise numerical results they arrive at can be argued over. Still, their general point that Japans growth was the result of improvements in the quality of factor inputs health and education for workers, for instance and improvements in the way these inputs are utilized in production due to technological and organizational change, reallocation of resources from agriculture to non-agriculture, and scale economies, is defensible. Notes: [a] Maddison (2000) provides estimates of real income that take into account the purchasing power of national currencies. [b] Ohkawa (1979) gives estimates for the N sector that is defined as manufacturing and mining (Ma) plus construction plus facilitating industry (transport, communications and utilities). It should be noted that the concept of an N sector is not standard in the field of economics. [c] The estimates of trade are obtained by adding merchandise imports to merchandise exports. Trade openness is estimated by taking the ratio of total (merchandise) trade to national output, the latter defined as Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.). The trade figures include trade with Japans empire (Korea, Taiwan, Manchuria, etc.); the income figures for Japan exclude income generated in the empire. [d] The Human Development Index is a composite variable formed by adding together indices for educational attainment, for health (using life expectancy that is inversely related to the level of the infant mortality rate, the IMR), and for real per capita income. For a detailed discussion of this index see United Nations Development Programme (2000). [e] Electrical generation is measured in million kilowatts generated and supplied. For 1970, the figures on NHK subscribers are for television subscribers. The symbol n.a. = not available. Sources: The figures in this table are taken from various pages and tables in Japan Statistical Association (1987), Maddison (2000), Minami (1994), and Ohkawa (1979). Flowing from this table are a number of points that bear lessons of the Denison and Chung (1976) decomposition. One cluster of points bears upon the timing of Japans income per capita growth and the relationship of manufacturing expansion to income growth. Another highlights improvements in the quality of the labor input. Yet another points to the overriding importance of domestic investment in manufacturing and the lesser significance of trade demand. A fourth group suggests that infrastructure has been important to economic growth and industrial expansion in Japan, as exemplified by the figures on electricity generating capacity and the mass diffusion of communications in the form of radio and television broadcasting. Several parts of Table 1 point to industrialization, defined as an increase in the proportion of output (and labor force) attributable to manufacturing and mining, as the driving force in explaining Japans income per capita growth. Notable in Panels A and B of the tab le is that the gap between Japanese and American income per capita closed most decisively during the 1910s, the 1930s, and the 1960s, precisely the periods when manufacturing expansion was the most vigorous. Equally noteworthy of the spurts of the 1910s, 1930s and the 1960s is the overriding importance of gross domestic fixed capital formation, that is investment, for growth in demand. By contrast, trade seems much less important to growth in demand during these critical decades, a point emphasized by both Minami (1994) and by Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973). The notion that Japanese growth was export led during the nine decades between 1880 and 1970 when Japan caught up technologically with the leading Western nations is not defensible. Rather, domestic capital investment seems to be the driving force behind aggregate demand expansion. The periods of especially intense capital formation were also the periods when manufacturing production soared. Capital formation in manufacturing, or in infrastructure supporting manufacturing expansion, is the main agent pushing long-run income per capita growth. Why? As Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) argue, spurts in manufacturing capital formation were associated with the import and adaptation of foreign technology, especially from the United States These investment spurts were also associated with shifts of labor force out of agriculture and into manufacturing, construction and facilitating sectors where labor productivity was far higher than it was in labor-intensive farming centered around labor-intensive rice cultivation. The logic of productivity gain due to more efficient allocation of labor resources is apparent from the right hand column of Panel A in Table 1. Finally, Panel C of Table 1 suggests that infrastructure investment that facilitated health and educational attainment (combined public and private expenditure on sanitation, schools and research laboratories), and public/private investment in physical infrastructure including dams and hydroelectric power grids helped fuel the expansion of manufacturing by improving human capital and by reducing the costs of transportation, communications and energy supply faced by private factories. Mosk (2001) argues that investments in human-capital-enhancing (medicine, public health and education), financial (banking) and physical infrastructure (harbors, roads, power grids, railroads and communications) laid the groundwork for industrial expansions. Indeed, the social capability for importing and adapting foreign technology emphasized by Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) can be largely explained by an infrastructure-driven growth hypothesis like that given by Mosk (2001). In sum, Denison and Chung (1976) argue that a combination of input factor improvement and growth in output per combined factor inputs account for Japans most rapid spurt of economic growth. Table 1 suggests that labor quality improved because health was enhanced and educational attainment increased; that investment in manufacturing was important not only because it increased capital stock itself but also because it reduced dependence on agriculture and went hand in glove with improvements in knowledge; and that th e social capacity to absorb and adapt Western technology that fueled improvements in knowledge was associated with infrastructure investment. References Denison, Edward and William Chung. Economic Growth and Its Sources. In Asias Next Giant: How the Japanese Economy Works, edited by Hugh Patrick and Henry Rosovsky, 63-151. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1976. Horioka, Charles Y. Future Trends in Japans Savings Rate and the Implications Thereof for Japans External Imbalance.Japan and the World Economy 3 (1991): 307-330. Japan Statistical Association. Historical Statistics of Japan [Five Volumes]. Tokyo: Japan Statistical Association, 1987. Johnson, Chalmers. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982. Maddison, Angus. Monitoring the World Economy, 1820-1992. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2000. Minami, Ryoshin. Economic Development of Japan: A Quantitative Study. [Second edition]. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press, 1994. Mitchell, Brian. International Historical Statistics: Africa and Asia. New York: New York University Press, 1982. Mosk, Carl. Japanese Industrial History: Technology, Urbanization, and Economic Growth. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2001. Nakamura, Takafusa. The Postwar Japanese Economy: Its Development and Structure, 1937-1994. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1995. Ohkawa, Kazushi. Production Structure. In Patterns of Japanese Economic Development: A Quantitative Appraisal, edited by Kazushi Ohkawa and Miyohei Shinohara with Larry Meissner, 34-58. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. Ohkawa, Kazushi and Henry Rosovsky. Japanese Economic Growth: Trend Acceleration in the Twentieth Century. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1973. Smith, Thomas. Native Sources of Japanese Industrialization, 1750-1920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Uriu, Robert. Troubled Industries: Confronting Economic Challenge in Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996. United Nations Development Programme. Human Development Report, 2000. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Citation: Mosk, Carl. Japan, Industrialization and Economic Growth. EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. January 18, 2004. URL http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/mosk.japan.final

Free Essays - A Difference in Values in The Good Earth :: Earth

A Difference in Values   The House of Wang Lung rose in one generation from a family of poor farmers to a wealthy respected house in the novel The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. The dramatic change in social status causes the sons of Wang Lung to have different views and values from their father. His different treatment of each son also shapes each character. Although part of the same family the charachters demonstrate a difference in values. The father values the land, the youngest son values regognition, the middle son values wealth, and the eldest son values respect.   As a result of his impoverished upbringing, Wang Lung values the land more than anything else. His obsession with the land causes him to neglect his family. The youngest son receives no attention and Wang Lung's plan to have him work the land disturbs him and makes him feel like a peasant. He feels that he has to prove that he is as great as his brothers and leaves the family to join the army. The middle son watches as his inheritance passes from his father's hand into the hand of his eldest son, and complains that his share is always too small. He wants to save the families money. The eldest son receives more attention and is given more than the other two sons and wants to be respected as a great family.      The eldest son receives more attention and is given more than the other two sons and wants to be respected as a great family. Wang Lung is proud of his first born son, Nung En, and gives him more than his other two sons. One example is when Wang Lung becomes distressed because he cannot read the contracts he is signing and does not want to sign a bad deal. He hopes that sending the elder son to school to learn how to read will solve this problem. The elder son is no longer needed in the fields, because Wang Lung can now afford men to work the land. However, he ignores sending his other children to school until later.   The eldest son's greatest desire is to have his family viewed as a great house. His wife, the daughter of the grain merchant Lui, Boggs 2 grew up in a rich house, she is accustomed to wealth and respect from others, and contributes to her husband's desire. He takes Wang Lung's silver bit by bit to mend up the old House of Hwang.