Machiavelli Lao-Tzu Essay Example for Free

Machiavelli Lao-Tzu Essay Lao-tzu was an ancient Chinese philosopher from 6th century BC, the author of Tao-te Ching, and Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher who lived 2000 years after Lao-tzus time, author of Prince. They are both philosophers but have totally different perspective on how to be a good leader. While both philosophers writing is instructive. Lao-tzus advice issues from detached view of a universal ruler; Machiavellis advice is very personal perhaps demanding. Both philosophers idea will not work for todays world, because that modern world is not as perfect as Lao-tzu described in Tao-te Ching, and not as chaotic as Machiavelli illustrated in Prince. Perhaps Lao-tzu and Machivellis political system will not work for todays world, but some of their philosophies are still exist in some of modern issues. One of those issues is gun control, which has become a dividing line in America. Lao-tzu advised in Tao-te Ching weapon are the tools of violence; all decent man detest them. Weapon are the tools of fear; a decent man will avoid them except in the direst necessity and, if compelled, will use them only with the utmost restraint. On the other hand Machiavelli wrote in Prince, Francesco Sforza became Duke of Milan from being a private citizen because he was armed; his sons, since they avoided the inconveniences of arms, became private citizens after having been duke. For, among the other bad effects it causes, being disarmed makes you despised; this is one of those infamies a prince should guard himself against (page 36) in which he pointed out that taking arms from a people can make a difference between a prince and a citizen. To gun control activists, the issue is about crime and the regulation of the weapons used to commit crimes. In their opinion, law-abiding citizens should have no need for guns, which is similar to Lao-tzus idea. However in opposite, the nations powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, argues that gun control is a violation of freedom and rights to protect themselves, which correspond to Machiavellis idea. I think that if American government take either sides, will end up in total chaos. Gun control, which means law-abiding citizens lose their right to protect themselves, and outlaw, will be the only one legally own firearm. But if there are totally no gun control, a five year old boy can bring a gun to school, and shoot at teacher as he please, even thought that he doesnt know better. Machiavelli wrote A prince, therefore, must not have any other object nor any other thought, nor must he take anything as his profession but war, its discipline; because that is the only profession which befits one who commands; He discussed that a Princes duty is war and only war. This lead to the second issue, war, which existed as long as the existence of human kind, as I am writing this essay there are still wars going on all over the world. According to Machiavelli war should be the only thing on a princes mind, because if a prince give more thought to personal luxuries than war he could lose his state and position. Lao-tzu states in Tao-te Ching The master doesnt try to be powerful; thus he is truly powerful. The ordinary man keeps reaching for power; thus he never has enough. I have to disagree with both philosophers idea, because I think that war can be looked at as a human evolution, in the ancient world war was fought for land and freedom. In modern world, war was fought for gross of economy. War is something that just happens, its not necessary and cant be avoided. Look into American History From Civil War to Vietnam War to Desert Storm, which cost billions dollars and millions lives, will the war ever end? We all know, the answer is no. As long as human lives, the war will never end. Perhaps Lao-tzu and Machiavellis political view is totally opposite, at the end they all have a common goal is to create an ideal political system. The constitution among other things would not allow that sort of government today. The times have defiantly changed, but the need for the higher forms of thinking amongst society has not.

Utopian Hill Resort :: Resorts Hotels Travel Vacations Essays

Utopian Hill Resort The safety of the guests is among the most important factors that determine the quality and hospitality of a high class hotel. At Utopian Hill Resort, your safety is our top priority and we ensure the most advanced equipment for your safety. Utopian Hill features a top of the line surveillance system, police force, hospital clinic, and fire fighting system. It also has equipment to survive any threat from natural disasters. Surveillance is the most important aspect of security. There are hidden cameras placed all over the hotel, including the beaches, to keep staff aware of each visitor’s experience. Not only does this let waiters serve the guests in top speed and quality, but it is also very useful to avoid a prone accident, a robbery or any intruder. In addition to warning staff of intruders during the night, extending surveillance to the beach also helps staff locate any potential risk to the guests swimming in the beach. Standard cameras are placed throughout the hotel (reception room, game room, gym, dance club, etc.). They secure the safety of all guests and decrease the probability of vandalism or any other negative incident. Surveillance is truly an important part of keeping any facility under control, but it is only the stepping stone to security. Utopia Hill has a crew of private officers to back up the surveillance. There are two coastal guard boats surveying the coastal waters where most tourists relax and ride boat rentals. These men do their best to keep watch over the hotel facilities 24 hours a day and aware the police of any unhand able situation on the spot. Officers may also be contracted as personal body guards for the guests who demand extra security from their fans or a paparazzi. They are armed with stun guns (can be used at a range of ten feet), pepper spray, radios and handcuffs and are allowed to assault any threat (obsessed fans) to the guests. Although these officers can prevent many threatening situations, there are many accidents that occur regardless of prevention techniques. To care for such unfortunate guests, there is a 24 hour medical clinic with up to date first aid technology.

An Exploration Of The Traditional Customs Union Theory And The Static And Dynamic Effects Of Economic Integration

Introduction The benefits gained from regional integration are widely documented in literature and have been known since the time of classical economists (Oslington, 2013). Regional integration has become the subject of great interest due to the perceived benefits of preferential trade arrangements such as customs union, free trade area, and common market among many others.This paper will focus explicitly on customs unions, exploring the traditional customs union theory introduced by prof. Jacob Viner. The paper starts by defining customs union and then examines Viner’s framework of trade creation and trade-diversion effects. It is important to first define customs union and introduce the theory of customs union. In general, tariff systems often tend to discriminate either between commodities or between countries. Commodity discrimination occurs where different commodities are subjected to different rates of duty whereas country discrimination occurs where different countries are subjected to different rates of duty on the same commodity (Lipsey, 1960). The theory of customs union is defined by the latter part which involves geographical discrimination by imposition of external tariffs to imports from non-member states. As defined by (Clausing, 2000), a customs union is a form of preferential trade arrangement that involves a tariff-free market access between member countries while imports from non-member countries are subjected to a common external tariff. Customs union have for a long time formed the basis for regional integration. This has primarily been driven by the perceived trade benefits for having such trade agreements between member countries. Some of the best-known customs unions include the Benelux formed by Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands; Zollverein which was formed by German states; and the EEC which was established by several states including France, Belgium and Italy, and is now widely recognized as the EU (Strielkowski, 2013). Other examples of customs unions are the Mercosur and the Andean Community (Hannam, 2014). Viner’s framework of trade creation and trade-diversion effects. Any useful literature exploring the welfare effects of custom union formation must commence with the appreciation of the traditional Vinerian orthodoxy which is based on two important considerations: trade creation and trade diversion effects. The Vinerian orthodoxy has been the driving force behind the huge volume of literature exploring the welfare effects of economic integration. For a long time, the perceived trade gains of customs unions had provided the rationale for regional integration (Jovanovic, 1998). Such regional agreements were viewed as good in terms of the welfare benefits. However, following the work of Viner Jacob, this proposition turned out to be incorrect. Using the concepts of trade creation and trade diversion, Jacob Viner argued that regional trade agreements did not necessarily result trade gains in spite of elimination of trade barriers (Ambrego & Riezman 2003; Lipsey 2006). Suppose that two countries A and B agree to form a customs union with country C remaining outside the union. If prior to the formation of customs union, country A was importing from country C which is a low cost producer. With the union formed, A chooses to import from country B which is a high cost producer. In this case, the welfare is lowered despite the benefits of a tariff-free market as trade is diverted from a low cost producer to a high cost producer (Ambrego & Riezman 2003; Lipsey 2006). However, if a union was formed between A and C, then trade will be created and the welfare will increase. Using these static concepts, Professor Viner concluded that such regional agreements can only be beneficial to partner countries if it leads to trade in commodities which were not previously traded (trade creation) (Corden, 1972). Whereas if the union was trade diverting by shifting locus of production from low-cost third country to higher-cost partner country, then the effects are most likely to be detrimental for both partner countries and the rest of the world as well (Chipman, 1998 & Lipsey, 2006). Since the publication of his seminal work in 1950, many economists have been interested in pursuing the impact of these two effects on world welfare. His work has been the driving force behind later subsequent literature examining the impact of regional trade agreements on welfare. Subsequent empirical work Much of the empirical literature on customs union formation has been motivated by the work of Viner (1950). Prior to Vinerian orthodoxy, it had been customary to recognize customs union as always increasing welfare. The classical economic theory behind the formation customs union was the presumption that higher degree of economic integration was beneficial (Jonavonic 1998). Customs union formation was viewed as a step closer to free trade liberalization hence was seen as increasing world welfare. Viner’s seminal contributions proved this argument to be incorrect. However, Viner’s seminal contributions were challenged by Meade (1955) on grounds that the orthodoxy overlooked some of the benefits resulting in trade-diverting unions such as the benefits arising from substitution in consumption (Chipman, 1998). Lipsey (1957) and Gehrels (1956) criticized the Viner’s work over the same issue. These authors argued that preference considerations had to be taken into account when making determinations of the welfare gains and losses (Chipman, 1998). Dissatisfaction with the Vinerian orthodoxy led to the development of other approaches that yielded clear propositions including the general theory of the second best and the terms of trade-volume approach. It is important to note that the traditional Vinerian orthodoxy was based on two simplifying assumptions: Constant costs of production (Nicholls, 1993) Fixed proportions in consumptions (Nicholls, 1993). Meade (1956), Lipsey (1957) and Gehrels (1956) extended Viner’s basic model by relaxing the assumption of zero price elasticity’s of demand (Lee, 1978: p.248). This allowed for the determination of welfare effects with consideration of the changes in composition of consumption. Kemp (1969), Michaely (1965) and Vanek (1965) relaxed the assumption of constant costs. What is missing from traditional customs union theory? Besides these limitations, the traditional Vinerian orthodoxy seem to be missing important dynamic aspects which are crucial in determination of the welfare effect. The traditional customs union theory seems to concentrate more on trade creation and trade diversion effects that are likely to be trivial, ignoring those that are crucial in determining the net gains/losses from integration. Pro-competitive effect One particular aspect missing is the pro-competitive effect. For example, many small countries will tend to have a few large firms that may collude and raise prices at the expense of consumers. Forming customs union and ensuring a tariff free market will increase the degree of competition and force domestic firms to price more in line with marginal cost (Jovanovic, 1998). This pro-competitive effect will encourage them to reduce inefficiency and force them to price in line with marginal costs, thereby leading reducing the prices to consumers. This pro-competitive effect make it increasingly difficult for these firms to charge margins in excess of marginal costs (Josic & Josic, 2013) In this regard, Baldwin & Venables (1995) emphasize the importance of pro-competitive effect and even suggest that regional integration amplifies the pro-competitive effect compared to global integration. Formation of customs union create a large market and subjects producers to new forms of competition. Increase in competition forces the firms to be reduce the levels of x-inefficiency and to price in line with marginal cost in order to gain a new market share. Economies of scale Another criticism of the traditional customs union theory lies in its failure to allow for economies of scale (Corden, 1972). Viner’s analysis fails to incorporate the effect of economies of scale. It is a fact that regional integration leads to the formation of larger markets which allows firms to exploit greater economies of scale. Customs union formation will therefore lead to the exploitation of greater economies of scale, thereby driving down the costs. With the tariff barriers removed, nationally-scaled firms may benefit greater economies of scale from the larger single market created (Cakmak & Yilmaz, 2008). Economies of scale will allow these union producers to achieve an optimum scale of production, increase their efficiencies and decrease the average production costs as well as the prices to consumers (Ginsberg, 2010: 95) Technology spill overs Yet another aspect missing in the traditional customs union theory are the larger effects of technological advances. The productivity and innovative abilities of nationally scaled firms may further be enhanced by technology spillovers (Cakmak & Yilmaz, 2008). Research and development programs may help in improving technological innovations. There is a greater potential for technological innovation where such unions exist. Accumulation or growth effects Furthermore, given that integration leads to increased efficiency, it is also more likely to induce greater investment. This additional investment may lead to medium-term growth effect in some countries and can even improve long-run growth rates where the additional investment is associated with faster technical progress (Josie & Josie, 2013). From an investment perspective, foreign direct investment will be particularly important in boosting domestic growth. Arguments for and agents removing all tariffs Indeed there appears to be a number of justifiable reasons for customs union formation. A member country’s welfare as well as the world’s welfare can be raised if tariffs are reduced under such customs unions. However, the greatest benefits would be achieved by complete removal of the tariffs compared to mere reduction of these tariffs. The removal of all trade barriers will without doubt yield significant benefits in terms of reducing monopoly power, improving terms of trade, increasing efficiency, and improving technological innovations through technology spill-overs among many others. In fact, customs union theory fails to justify or rather explain the need for customs union formation since complete removal of all trade barriers could have all the benefits without incurring potential losses associated with joining customs unions (Jovanovic, 1998). The welfare of a member country is less likely to be raised by a mere reduction in tariffs compared to complete removal. A free trade agreement would therefore tend to have more welfare benefits than a customs union since trade creation is merely dependent on removal of tariff barriers (Clausing, 2000). However, Krueger (1997) points out that free trade agreements may not necessarily yield greater benefits than a customs union and even argues that it can generate additional welfare costs which would otherwise not have been incurred under a customs union. In fact, Krueger (1997) argues that a customs union will always remain superior to a free trade agreement. This points to the need for further analysis of the benefits and costs associated with Free trade agreements and customs unions formation. Conclusion Based on this analysis, this paper concludes that the static concepts of trade creation and diversion cannot appropriately measure the welfare effects of regional integration. Even though Viner seminal contributions points out that consumer welfare may increase due to tariff reductions while welfare cost may accrue from tariff discrimination of customs union, these static effects are trivial when considering the welfare effects of integration. The traditional customs union theory seem to ignore dynamic effects that are crucial in determining the net gains/losses from integration such as the pro-competitive effect, growth effect, economies of scale, and reduction of x-inefficiencies and monopoly power among many others A prime example can be seen with the European Union, a single market that has had important consequences both within and outside Europe. Following the EU’s single market program, there is now a greater awareness of the importance of formation of customs union and of the value of removing tariff barriers. The EU is not only the largest single importer and exporter, but is also the world’s largest and richest economic entity (Ginsberg, 2010: p.96). The gains associated with joining the union far outweigh the economic risks/costs. The EU is currently planning to expand its reach other European nations. Preferential trading agreements seem to be growing more rapidly, both in size and number. Reference Akkoyunlu-Wigley, A., 2006. â€Å"Effects of customs union with European Union on the market structure and pricing behaviour of Turkish manufacturing industry†. Applied Economics, vol.38 (20). Ambrego, L. and Riezman, R., 2003. Computation and the theory of customs unions. Ontario, Universities of Warwick and Western Ontario and NBER Baldwin, R.E. and Venables, A.J., 1995. â€Å"Regional economic integration†. In Handbook of International Economics, vol.3 , edited by G.M. Grossman and K. Rogoff. Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp.1597-1644 Cakmak, O.A. and Yilmaz, S., 2008. The dynamic effects of economic integration: a comparative study on the competitive power of Turkey and EU-8 (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia). Gazi University. Chipman, J.S., 1998. Welfare effects of trade-diveriting customs unions: a quantitative approach, USA, University of Minnesota. Clausing, K.A., 2000. â€Å"Customs unions and free trade areas†. Journal of Economic Integration, vol 15 (3), pp.418-435 Corden, W.M., 1972. â€Å"Economies of scale and customs union theory†. Nuffield College, Oxford Publishers., Journal of Political Economy, vol.80 (3) Gehrels, F., 1956. Customs Union from a Single-Country Viewpoint, Review of Economic Studies, 24, pp. 61-64. Ginsberg, R.H., 2010. Demistifying the European Union: the enduring logic of regional integration. Rowman & Littlefield publishers4 Hannan, D., 2014. The EU is not a free trade area but a customs union: until we understand the difference, the debate about our membership is meaningless. The Telegraph. Available from http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100186074/the-eu-is-not-a-free-trade-area-but-a-customs-union-until-we-understand-the-difference-the-debate-about-our-membership-is-meaningless/ [Viewed on 30th November 2014]. Josic, H. and Josic, M., 2013. Static and dynamic effects of customs union creation, Croatia, Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb Jovanovic, M. N., 1998. International Economic Integration, London, Routledge. Kemp, M., 1969, The Pure Theory of International Trade and Investment. London: Prentice-Hall. Krueger, A., 1997. â€Å"Free Trade Agreements versus Customs Unions†, Journal of Development Economics 54, 169-187. Lee, S.A., 1978. Economic relations between West Asia and Southeast Asia. Papers and proceedings of an international conference, Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian. Lipsey, R. G., 1957, â€Å"The theory of customs unions: trade diversion and welfare†, Economica 24: 40:46 Lipsey, R.G., 1960. â€Å"The theory of Customs Unions: a general survey†, The Economic Journal, vol.70, No. 279 Lipsey, R.G., 2006. â€Å"The theory of customs unions: trade diversion and welfare†. Economica, New Series vol, 24. No.93 Meade, J.E., 1955, The Theory of Customs Unions. Amsterdam: North Holland. Mendes, M., 1986. â€Å"An alternative approach to customs union theory†. Journal of International Economic Integration 1(I), spring publications, pp.43-58 Michaely, M., 1965. â€Å"On Customs Unions and the Gains from Trade†, Economic Journal, 75, pp. 577-583. Nicholls, S.A., 1993. Theories of economic integration: a selective review, London: University of London Oslington, P., 2013. Contextual history, practitioner history and classic status: reading Jacob Viner’s the customs union issue, North Sydney, Australia, Australian Catholic University Strielkowski, W., 2012. Advanced economics of European integration: microeconomic aspects, National University of Ireland Viner, J., 1950, The Customs Union Issue. New York: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Taking a Look at Cystic Fibrosis - 660 Words

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