Pride and Prejudice Essay

Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) is believed to originate from the manuscript called First Impressions that have been written between 1796 and 1797. The initial title indicates that characters’ behavior and evaluations are influenced by their first impressions. The second title stresses the importance of such psychological traits and mechanisms as pride and prejudice. In a course of the novel personages change a lot so far as they understand that perfunctory attitudes and assessments are false when being devoid of knowledge of the context and understanding of an individual’s character. The present paper tackles upon analysis of Austen’s book as being researched through a lens of psychology. Contemporary science introduced the â€Å"social stereotypes† concept which significantly influences people’s interaction within a given social group. Among many other important contributions, the novel of interest teaches us to approach carefully decisions as related to our interpersonal acting and judgment of group members according to first impressions. The effects, dangers and consequences of premature evaluations as based on social stereotypes will be analysed with specific examples from the book. The novel under review is believed to be an example of psychological writing or novel of human relationships. As Sherry has acknowledged, the writer is always aware of â€Å"the presence of other individuals with whom it is either a duty or a pleasure to mix† (611). The very title of the book consists of two psychological concepts. The one of â€Å"pride† denotes a trait of character associated with high self-esteem. Another one of â€Å"prejudice† refers to a situation when a person makes decisions regardless of the context and relevant features of a case or individual. In regard to the issue of Austen’s psychologism, critic Bloom has cited Ian Watt, an important theorist of literature from Stanford University. The latter has claimed Austen to be â€Å"the commenting narrator† in the sense that her â€Å"analyses of †¦ characters and their states of mind, and her ironical juxtaposition of motive and situation †¦ do not seem to come from an intrusive author but rather from some august and impersonal spirit of social and psychological understanding† (39). In his turn, another literary critic, Ryan, has defined Austen’s psychologism as an â€Å"experiment in schematic psychology† (33). The latter definition with its emphasis on the writer’s schematism in delineating people’s behavioral patterns and analyzing their internal and external drives seems to be really accurate, given the recent developments in psychological science. Just think of the plain statistics: in Austen’s text, there are 48 references to the phenomenon of â€Å"pride,† which is accessible through direct observation, but there are only 8 cases of mentioning the phenomenon of â€Å"prejudice,† which requires a deeper understanding of psychological mechanisms and social contexts. It seems that the writer lacks instruments and concepts to analyze human behavior at a deeper level but this is not Austen’s fault. Being unaware of any of the recent theories of social sciences, she nevertheless hits the very essence of the process that would later be called â€Å"social stereotyping. † Let us prove this hypothesis on the example of the â€Å"pride† concept. First time it is explained in Chapter 5 by Mary Bennet, the most earnest of the Bennets, who is interested in social theory. Upon the ball at which the local society has got acquainted with Fitzwilliam Darcy, the rich and handsome gentleman from London, women start discussing the newcomer and label him as being â€Å"eat up with pride† (Austen 25). On occasion, Mary has demonstrated her education, saying: Pride is a very common failing†¦ human nature is particularly prone to it, and †¦ there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us. (ibid. ) The validity of Mary’s (i. e. , Austen’s) remark has been acknowledged many decades afterwards by contemporary psychologists including Hunyady and Ryan. Whereas Mary Bennet operates the phrase â€Å"opinion of ourselves,† when referring to characteristics ascribed to the self by an individual, Ryan uses the term â€Å"self-ratings† (191), and Hunyady employs the term â€Å"self-image† (189). Both Mary (i. e. Austen) and modern scientists are aware of the complexity of perceptions as featured by the subject and members of the group. To proceed with comparison, whereas in the novel there is made a distinction between â€Å"pride† as a self-rating and â€Å"vanity† as the rating imposed by the community, Ryan speaks about the concept of â€Å"social stereotype. † The psychologist has ac knowledged that it consists of the two basic elements: â€Å"the perceived stereotypicality of a group (i. e. , the perceived extremity of the central tendency) and the perceived dispersion, or diversity, of group members† (191). This point is not Ryan’s unique invention. On the same issue, another social scientist, Hunyady, has stressed the duality of social processes as occurring both within the specific group and outside it. Observing the complexity of relationships in dynamic social contexts, Hunyady has emphasized the following: †¦ [T]he categories of persons and the related stereotypes do not stand on their own but rather are components of some kind of a system. †¦ [S]tereotypes are the mosaic pieces of a picture formed of the whole society. One not only gets to know his individual companions or groups of his companions but also tries to get a comprehensive view of the entire human world and of society, in which he and his fellows have a place and a more or less stable environment. (189) In other words, psychologists argue that in a process of exhibiting the new object to the social group, the behavior of group members in regard to this object is predicted by realistic group conflict theory and social cognition theories of social categorization. Every subject unit of the group obeys to a certain set of normative regulations. An individual does not function on his/her own but clearly fits into this or that community. Subsequently and inevitably, a person evaluates oneself according to the degree of membership, or the extent to which his/her ratings of the self, the group and social processes conform to the summated ratings of other people belonging to that group. As Ryan has indicated, there is a â€Å"central tendency,† or the core perception of the phenomenon that is agreed upon by all group members as being guided by a set of shared norms, and there are also deviations from the mainstream. The latter are allowed by those group subjects who are less inclined to stereotype the phenomena of life due to their intellect and character. Taking this conceptual framework into consideration, we should admit that the stages of the social stereotyping process are brilliantly revealed by Austen in Pride and Prejudice, albeit the narrator employs a simple, non-scientific language. There is a specific group in the countryside 19th century England whose members share the common regulations concerning people and events. The highest value is attributed to the upper class membership, wealth, and appearance. There is â€Å"the aura of a small, enclosed community of talking, visiting, and company† (Sherry 611) that confines every person to the specific role and place. In this social atmosphere, first impressions, which are based on the abovementioned features of appearance and sweet manners (i. e. , those which do not deviate from the central tendency), become the long-lasting tags for an individual. It is extremely difficult to overcome the sustainability of these immediately formed stereotypes. Since the very moment of his entry to the ball room, Fitzwilliam Darcy drew the group’s attention. He is a new person to the community, and at first sight he seems to be in accord with the shared set of norms so far as the man is high, good-looking and enjoys a substantial income of ten thousand a year. However, conforming to the stereotype of a â€Å"good man† in the sense of outlook and social position, Darcy becomes a breacher of discipline in terms of his relationships with other group members. Darcy is claimed â€Å"to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance† (Austen 14). The reason for such a shift in attitudes is the man’s denial of the spirit of companionship that is somewhat more important to the community than the characteristics of its individual subjects, however handsome and wealthy they are. The clue to understanding the first impression of Darcy is provided in the scene where young women are discussing him after the ball. Charlotte Lucas, the best friend of the second Bennet’s daughters Elizabeth, who is the main female personage of the story, justifies Darcy by the fact that his high self-rating is understandable so far as he possesses every feature admired within the group: His pride does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud. (Austen 25) In other words, this is not the man’s high self-esteem that hurts the senses of the locals. His drawback tackles upon not the pardonable attitude of pride but the regrettable vanity, or the overt negligence of the shared persuasion that the given social group is the best environment for any dignified individual. Regarding the eagerness to enter the local community and borrow its toolkit of stereotypes, Darcy represents a sharp contrast to an amiable young officer, Mr. Wickham. The latter is as handsome as the former but is more eagerly accepted by the group so far as he gladly steps into social intercourses with every member of the circle. As the personage himself has confessed, â€Å"I have been a disappointed man, and my spirits will not bear solitude. I must have employment and society† (Austen 98). This weakness and lack of the so to say inner rod is initially perceived as a virtue by group members. Austen’s mastery is made evident in the scenes documenting the usual intercourse between group members so that the reader can get impression of the relationships permeating the group atmosphere and learn the principles which back up the social stereotypes of that time. To make a clue to her heroes’ characters, the writer provides short explanations of the people’s psychological background. People and events are evaluated by many people who exchange remarks on the issue of interest, although Austen takes a particular interest in the phenomena as perceived through the eyes of Elizabeth Bennet. This is a beautiful and intelligent young lady of 20 years old who displays â€Å"a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous† (Austen 16). She deserves the reader’s appreciation, demonstrating â€Å"more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and †¦ a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself† (Austen 20). Due to her intellect and sociable yet a bit absent-minded character, Elizabeth exhibits the perfect ability to deviate from the central tendency in her assessments and evaluations of life matters. The second of Bennet’s daughters is obviously the only group member who could have appreciated Darcy’s ability to let the world slide, if not for the case of personal injustice. She cannot forget the pain that has been caused to her own self-esteem. The thing is that Elizabeth has heard the handsome newcomer admitting that she is not enough beautiful to dance with. The remark is enough for the young lady to start detesting the offender to her pride. As Elizabeth herself has stated, â€Å"I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine† (Austen 25). The first impression of Darcy’s rudeness at the ball is driven by the clash of self-esteems, and negative perceptions color the young lady’s further conceptualization of the hero up to the very moment when he reveals his love toward her in Chapter 34. The futility of first impressions is demonstrated through the description of Elizabeth’s relationships with Darcy and Wickham as well as her understanding of Bingley’s character. As it has been stated earlier, all three men fit the shared group’s concept of â€Å"an appropriate gentleman† in terms of their looks and wealth, albeit Wickham is not as rich as the other two men and pretends to be a man who is unjustly insulted. He pretends to be modest and good-hearted when he says, â€Å"I have no right to give my opinion† or â€Å"I am not qualified to form one† (Austen 96) in regard to Darcy’s background, and immediately afterwards he does his best to ruin Fitzwilliam’s reputation. All Wickham’s envy of Darcy is demonstrated in the following characterization: â€Å"The world is blinded by his fortune and consequence, or frightened by his high and imposing manners, and sees him only as he chooses to be seen† (Austen 97). The remark provides the reader with a hint concerning Darcy’s manner of functioning within the upper class social circle. Among this threesome with Bingley being superficial and Wickham being villainous, Darcy is the only person to be criticized for the lack of that â€Å"agreeable manner† that Wickham demonstrates speaking even about insignificant matters. The intelligent and kind-hearted Lizzy cannot but â€Å"feel that the commonest, dullest, most threadbare topic might be rendered interesting by the skill of the speaker† (Austen 94) when she socialized with Wickham, whereas Darcy’s brisk and unwilling manner of speaking makes the young lady feel uncomfortable. This is true that being compared to his friend Bingley or his rivalry Wickham, Darcy is not the object to readily fall in love and admiration with. He dances only with the two selected ladies and neglects the rest. This manner is regarded an offense to the aura of amiability, and he abstains from the social chit-chat. Besides this gentleman directly expresses his opinions of other people instead of camouflaging them under the veil of behind-the-back gossip. This personage makes it too clear that the local society is â€Å"a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion, for none of whom he had felt the smallest interest, and from none received either attention or pleasure† (Austen 22). He reveals indignation, boredom, or sarcasm in the situations when other men pretend to be pleased and amused. Judging from first impressions, Charles Bingley is more favored by the locals since he treats them as the nicest people he has ever met. In his turn, Wickham’s reputation is based on the assumption that Darcy has devoid him of wealth, which puts the two men in the positions of a victim and an offender. This is only throughout a course of the plot development that the narrator makes clear that Bingley’s sociality is explained by superficiality, and Wickham is a cheater who has attempted to seduce Darcy’s younger sister. Utilizing the theories of social categorization, one may say that Wickham has been admitted to the local group more easily than Darcy because the former has readily belittled his self-rating in public conversations and demonstrated the greater extent of willingness to share the pre-established social regulations of the given group. Being compared to the sweet Mr. Bingley’s behavior, Darcy’s behavioral pattern is rooted in the wider cognitive scope and finer spiritual development. The latter is strong enough to disregard the central tendency as it exists in the given group. Being cleverer than his friend Mr. Bingley, who has managed to become the crowd puller, Darcy falls into the sin that is not pride per se but rather vanity. The local society would gladly accept him as the most important person if he had been willing to put himself on one leg so to say with other group members. It is only in Chapter 10 when the narrator lets readers learn more about Darcy’s understanding of pride and related concepts. In public opinion, his high self-esteem is a manifestation of haughtiness, whereas Wickham’s seemingly low self-rating is a sign of appropriateness as shown through humility. In his turn, Darcy detests â€Å"the appearance of humility† that is genuinely the â€Å"carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast† (Austen 60). Contemporary psychologists would call Darcy’s conceptualizations of â€Å"pride,† â€Å"humility,† and â€Å"boast† as being driven by functional utility of human behavior. According to this hero, this is inappropriate to put down one’s self-esteem just for the sake of being praised by other group members. Throughout the novel this personage remains the vivid example of a person who shares certain believes common to the central tendency of stereotypicality but reveals energy to display also diversity in his ratings of the self and other people. The complexity and dynamism of social stereotypes is shown through Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s attitudes to each other. Whereas Lizzy’s stereotypes in regard to the man remain sort of frozen for a while under the man’s â€Å"satirical eye† (Austen 30), Darcy is being engaged into the fast proceeding process, in a course of which he changes the initial perception of the young lady. The narrator specifies Darcy’s turn toward re-evaluating Lizzy Bennet as follows: But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. Austen 29) In other words, Darcy’s first rejection of the second daughter of Bennets has been caused by the incongruity between Elizabeth’s outlook and his own classical perception of beauty as a reckless symmetry of forms and elements. It is clear that the gentleman has initially been blinded by both his personal and group set of stereotypes that required women to conform to certain standards. Elizabeth does not seem to be classically beautiful, and her gaiety during the first meeting has poked the man away as a manifestation of social inappropriateness.

The Spanish-American War and Imperialism

Q5-How did the Spanish-American War turn into a war of imperial expansion? Shawn Lannin 2/26/2013 The Spanish-American War originally started off as The United States protecting Cuba from its Spanish rulers essentially, but quickly evolved into colonial expansion. The war became a war of imperial expansion in the late 1800’s due to America’s new â€Å"outward† focuses on global markets and growing concerns of economic competition/expansion from other world powers. America, once a colony itself was now looking to expand its influence into other parts of the globe as its European cousins had been doing for quite some time.Before, during, and after the war Americans had growing concerns about the Pacific and East Asia. These foreign markets possessed vast amounts of natural resources and fertile lands for the taking; many expansionists had differing reasons for imperialistic expansion. Some argued religious purposes, some the spread of the White-Anglo-Saxon race, (W hite Mans Burden) while others stressed economic and military reasons to expand abroad. Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, a naval strategist, believed in a strong navy and that America should turn its focus outward and expand its influences into the world.Mahan also urged the acquisition of Pacific islands for military and naval superiority. Islands such as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, The Philippines, and Guam soon became targets of America’s imperialistic aim. These islands could be used strategically to protect merchant fleets in route from Asia and also for military and economic purposes, for example the natural harbor found in Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor served as a great naval base and served as a stepping-stone to Asia, while the fertile volcanic soils were perfect for sugar plantations.Expansionists also sought to protect their trade rights and foreign policies such as The Open Door Policy, which gave free trade rights in East Asian markets. China was in turmoil at the time and o ther world powers were exhibiting land grabs while trying to carve out â€Å"spheres of influence† to control trade in Chinese markets. Expansion in the Pacific would not only secure our rights to trade but would protect our interests over seas as well.Nations across the world were colonizing weaker countries through the concept of Social Darwinism and America didn’t want to fall by the way side so to speak. We had to keep up with the world powers and protect our best interest. It was a time of empires and after decades of isolationism, America decided it was time to show the world our power. By 1898 America had defeated Spain and with its defeat came the annexation of several island nations that we used to our benefit for years to come.

Digital Signatures

Signature is an important aspect of any document or agreement between two parties. Only handwritten signatures are valid for legal documents. The modern world is currently doing lot of proposals and agreements through computers and internet. In order to use in the online documents, technologists has developed a new signature method called digital signature. This paper examines the technology, validity and reliability of digital signatures Introduction Digital signature is an electronic signature which is used to identify the validity of a document.With the help of digital signature one can verify that the message he received is original and unchanged. Nobody can reject the fatherhood of a message if it is signed digitally. Digital signature is a process which involves some kind of encryption and decryption of data. The person who sends the message will encrypt the message which can be decrypt only by the addressee. â€Å"A digital signature is a â€Å"stamp† places on the dat a which is unique to somebody, and is very difficult to forge.In addition, the signature assures that any changes made to the data that has been signed cannot go undetected. † (David Youd) Digital signatures 3 Digital signature – Technology â€Å"After creating a document, using special software one can obtain a message hash (mathematical summary) of the message. Then using a private key obtained from a public-private key authority, the message is been hashed. This encrypted hash is the digital signature of the message.The receiver of the message makes a hash of the received message to ensure the validity of the message. He will then make use of the public key provided by the sender to decrypt the message hash. If the hashes matched, then the received message is valid. † (Digital signature) Legality of Digital signature Many countries like, US, European Union, and Australia have approved digital signatures legally just like other handwritten signature documents. Most of the e-commerce activities are making use of digital signatures to authenticate the documants.â€Å"Stimulated by the development of the American Bar Association Digital Signature Guidelines, electronic signature legislation began with the Utah Digital Signature Act, which was enacted in 1995 and focused solely on issues raised by cryptography-based digital signatures. Soon thereafter, legislation was introduced in several other states† (Thomas J. Smedinghoff and Ruth Hill Bro) Digital signatures 4 Issues and concerns of digital signatures Like most of the other secure documents have suffered by the intrusion of hackers, digital signature technology is also under the constant threats from the e-frauds.â€Å"How do you verify the actual consent and authority of a person relating to these new electronically-signed transactions, or know that the electronic signature wasn't stolen from a PC by some inside or outside entity? † (Lauren Weinstein) Conclusion Digital si gnatures are extensively used in e-commerce activities. It is legally approved in many countries just like the hand written signatures. Like most of the other secure documents in internet, the digital signatures are also under threat from intruders or hackers.

Character Sketch of Daniel from Daniels Story

Character Analysis: ____chapter 3__________________ Your task is to choose a character from the novel and draw a picture of them in the first box. Surround your picture with quotes from the novel, as well as adjectives describing their appearance. Next, describe your character’s personality, family, and the conflicts he/she is facing in the story. You must have at least 5 points in each category and evidence from the novel. For example: Daniel is a ‘†free spirit† because in Chapter 3 he disguises himself as a Hitler Youth and travels throughout Frankfurt, doing all of the things he isn’t allowed to do.Physical Traits (What does your character look like? ) 12 – 13 years old. â€Å"I had to be who I was – Daniel, a twelve-almost thirteen-year-old Jewish boy who carried an I. D. Card stamped with a big J â€Å"(p 28) â€Å"How I had loved skiing – the speed, the cold, the daring† (p 24) Personality (What kind of person are th ey? ) â€Å"She’s not only beautiful, though, it’s that her inner calm and sweetness shine through her eyes. I love to photograph her† (p 20). (mother) -finds beauty within, caring, enjoys photography, They aren’t all so bad, Mother,† I say, trying to make her feel better. How can I tell her that I’m looking through them to try to make sense of this nightmare? I can’t let her see how upset I am. It would only make her more miserable† (p 21) -Caring, hides feelings from mother, devoted, kind, empathetic, compassionate, concerned, thoughtful, â€Å"I remember Auntie Leah giving me Uncle Peter’s camera when she and her children moved in with us after they took Uncle Peter away†¦ and the first thing we did was turn one of the closets into a darkroom.Then I read every book I could on photography until I felt ready to begin taking pictures† (p21) -Brave for starting a darkroom when photos were banned. Ambitious, moti vated, excited about photography, hard working, knowledgeable, patient as he gathers knowledge, likes to be prepared, responsible, cautious, â€Å"I felt it was my duty to take over his responsibility as the family photographer. † Friedrich and I made a pact that we would photograph everything we could as a record of our ill treatment by our fellow Germans† (p 21). Trying to compensate/ take pictures in memory of his Uncle Peter, gathering proof/evidence of German behaviour, historian, loyal, responsible, reliable, trustworthy, makes promises and keeps promises, I remember powdering my face with flour as she and Erika were working and then shouting ‘boo’ at them. †¦ it felt good to be scolded about something ordinary like that – I think it made me feel that things were ordinary† (p25) -trying to remain positive, make life feel normal, prankster, joker, comedian, humour,

Rizal as a role-model for students

Rizal Submitted by: Jose Marcko Durano Submitted to: Sir Parawan Rizal, American sponsored Hero |Rizal was an American-sponsored hero | Rector’s Bill |Claro M. Recto Foundation | Why is Rizal the National hero? |Jose Rizal | Discovery in Binyan Jose Rizal |Jose Rizal | Blumentritt’s role in the propaganda war |Ferdinand Blumentritt | Rizal’s stinginess |Rizal’s stinginess |Rizal as a role-model for students |Liability | What did Rizal read? |He grew up in a home with a large | |library. | ———————– He became the national hero only because of the Americans who sponsored and encouraged the Rizal cult. Andres Bonifacio made Rizal the honorary president of KKK. KKK First Asians to rebel against a Western colonial power and establish a republic. A traitor to the revolution. The greatest Malay who ever lived. Aguinaldo declared this day to be an annual â€Å"Day of National Mourning. †December 1898 Th e Rizal course is coded as PI 100; Putang Ina 100. Made the Rizal bill. Student’s feel it’s useless studying this. Students today don’t appreciate much studying Rizal’s life. He was one man who was willing to risk losing votes because of his principles. Catholics schools threatened to close shop if the Rizal bill passed. Recto’s bill passed the law on 1956. Hero of all heroes. Spirit of Revolution â€Å"My dreams have always guided my actions. † He was a quiet, peaceful man who wilfully and calmly walked to his death former convictions. Unconscious hero. † Jose Potracio Rizal Mercado Y Realonda – Alonzo Teodora Alonzo Realonda Francis Mercado June 19, 1861 Regina Ursua Manuel de Qunito Brigada de Quintos Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo Domingo Lamco Ines Dela Rosa Cirila Bernacha Francisco Mercado Good friend and correspondent of Rizal. He attacked anti-Filipino writers. First European scholars o specialized in Phils. Studies. He was wal king around, peeking and salivating. He goes back to the apartment as if he had eaten already. His allowance was delayed. Pride and seriousnessThrifty Rizal did not like the idea of supplying the drinks for the party. Going in to Rizal’s school, they would be left with no â€Å"free† time. Because we had to give up fun and games to read and study. Most students today doubt Rizal’s accomplishments. He saves his allowance to buy books. Honore de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, and Count of Monte Cristo. He read a lot of French literature. Rizal owned a valuable collection of over 2,000 books. He owned dictionaries and three different versions of the bible. Rizal also owned a lot of picture books.

Economics as a collection of analytical tools - concepts of Essay

Economics as a collection of analytical tools - concepts of rationality, opportunity cost, comparative advantage and the margin - Essay Example 87) B. Venkatesh says that "rationality in economics is to do with greed! People are called rational if they desire to improve their economic well-being. That is, they want more wealth, and they want it sooner than later. Thus, if you are offered Rs 1 lakh, and you refuse it, you may be deemed irrational by the economists". (Venkatesh, 1990, p.2) Count the following decision problem. A consumer must choose between 2 actions, videlicet, A and B. She/he acquires 10 dollars from action A and 5 dollars from action B. On the supposition that the consumer prefers more money to less one, he is rational if he chooses action A; a consumer choosing action B is irrational. In the context of this mere example, the rationality concept is trivial, partly because there is no ambiguity in the decision problem (i.e., the set of probable actions and the payback from each action are clear with certainty). Nevertheless, in the context of examples with uncertainty, the concept of rationality is by no means trivial. For instance, consider the following modification to the decision problem stated earlier. If the consumer selects action B, then a fair coin is tossed, and if he is lucky and heads turned up then the consumer gets 15 dollars, and if tails turned up then he gets 5 dollars. In this much more complicated decision problem, it is not clear whether it is as yet rational for the person to choose action A. Opportunity cost is an economical term that means the cost of something in terms of an opportunity foreseen and the benefits that could be obtained from that opportunity, or also understood as the most valuable foreseen alternative. The opportunity cost concept is used in CBA to adjust a dollar value on the inputs necessary to execute policies. The opportunity cost of using an input to execute the policy is its value in the best alternative usage. It assesses the value of what people should forgo to use the input for the policy fulfillment. For instance, if a city wants to construct a hospital on available land it owns, the opportunity cost is another possibility that might have been used with the land and funds for construction instead. Having built the hospital, the city has lost the opportunity to construct a sports centre on that place, or the opportunity to sell that piece of land to decrease the city's debts, and so forth. Simply said, the opportunity cost of spending a Friday night having fun could be the sum of money you could have made if you had spent that time in labor. Opportunity cost is not determined in monetary terms, but in terms of anything that constitutes value for the person or persons carrying out the assessment. The use of the opportunity cost concept seeks for the latent cost of each and every separate economic decision. Incompetence in the economic concept of opportunity cost has induced general economic mistakes, like "the broken window fallacy" reported by Frederic Bastiat. According to Frederic Bastiat, it is not possible to have everything promoted at the expense of everything else. This calls up his well-known definition describing the state, "the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else" (Bastiat, 1975, p.144). A. Smith says "If among a nation of hunters, for

International Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International Financial Management - Essay Example The spot rates extracted from reliable sources for the foreign currencies are depicted in the following table: Currency Spot Exchange Rates Euro / USD 0.7624 â‚ ¬ Yuan / USD 6.3123 Yuan These spot exchange rates were used in computing forward exchange rates which are the rates at which a bank or any party is willing to exchange or trade one currency for another at some prescribed date in the future. The forward exchange rate is a kind of a forward price. This rate is computed with the use of the relationship among the spot exchange rate and the differences in the interest rates between two nations. ... 300 $30 10.00% $300 $30 10.00% $0.00 0.000% Germany $132.15 $15.86 12.00% $131.16 $15.74 12.00% $0.12 0.748% China $109.45 $8.76 8.00% $102.97 $8.24 8.00% $0.52 6.294% $541.60 $54.61 10.08% $534.14 $53.98 10.11% $7.46 1.179% The above table shows the amounts repatriated into US Dollars after 1 year and on current basis using the spot foreign exchange rates. The main constituent which has been required in this assignment is the repatriation of ROS into United States. Using the forward and spot rates, the change in the ROS is depicted in the last two columns in terms of millions of US $ and percentage. The change in the ROS of Germany and China after one year has come about to be US$ 120,000 and US$ 520,000 which in total comes about to be US$ 746,000 and 1.179%. Discussion of repatriation with respect to: A spot transaction   A foreign exchange spot transaction or widely known as FX spot is a contract between two factions of people to purchase one currency against disposing of anoth er currency at a settled price for settlement on the spot date. The exchange rate at which the spot transaction is carried out is called the spot exchange rate. The computation of the repatriation of the ROS to the United States after the period of 12 months has been done in the previous section. As the total worldwide revenues of Navigation Systems, Inc. amounted up to $500 million have been forecasted for the coming year therefore the transaction is not a foreign exchange spot one but a forward exchange transaction. However, to convert the sales or figures for operations and ROS of the two foreign countries, Germany and China into the currency of United States, the spot exchange rates have been used with US Dollar against German Euro and Chinese Yuan. The spot foreign exchange rates were