Childbirth In Ethnic And Cultural Groups Essay

Discuss disparities related to ethnic and cultural groups relative to low birth weight infants and preterm births. Describe the impact of extremely low birth weight babies on the family and on the community (short-term and long-term, including economic considerations, on-going care considerations, and comorbidities associated with prematurity). Identify at least (1) support service within your community for preterm infants and their family. Provide the link for your colleagues to view. Does the service adequately address needs of this population? Explain your answer. Babies who weigh 5.5 pounds (2500grams) or less at birth are low babies with low birth weight. Babies weighing 3.3 pounds (1500 grams) or less are Very low birth weight babies. According to World Health Organization â€Å"The 30 million low-birth-weight babies born annually (23.8% of all births) often face severe short- and long-term health consequences. Low birth weight is a major determinant of mortality, morbidity and disability in infancy and childhood and also has a long-term impact on health outcomes in adult life. Low birth weight also results in substantial costs to the health sector and imposes a significant burden on society as a whole† (WHO, 2014). The infants born to non-Hispanic Black women, 3.0 percent were very low birth weight in 2008, compared to 1.2 percent of infants born to non- Hispanic White, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander women and 1.3 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native women. The rate of infant mortality (death in the first year) has fallen steadily for both blacks and whites over the past twenty-five years. In 1980, 18 out of 1,000 black singleton babies did not live to their first birthday; by 2000 that figure had fallen to 12 out of 1,000. For white babies the comparable rates were 9 out of 1,000 in 1980 and 5 out of 1,000 in 2000(Reichman, 2005).The majority of costs accrue in the first year of life and costs for rehospitalization are higher than outpatient costs. Most relevant cost components after the neonatal period are expenses for re-hospitalization, outpatient visits, pharmaceuticals, medical aids and nonmedical costs for education, travelling, accommodation, child care as well as indirect costs (mainly parental time and/or wage losses) (Hodek, Schulenburg and Mittendorf, 2011). The local or federal government ought to provide financial assistance to the families while they  are taking care of them. The Alta Bates Summit Medical Center is the local resource I found that provides information about what is premature birth, delivery of you premature infant, what to expect when you have an extremely premature infant and symptoms of the premature baby. http://www.altabatessummit.org/nicuedu/preemie.html Reference World Health Organization, 2014 Nutrition, Feto-maternal nutrition and low birth weight. Retrieved on November 25, 2014 from http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/feto_maternal/en/ Reichman N. 2005. Low Birth Weight and School Readiness Retrieved on November 25, 2014 from http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=38&articleid=118 §ion id=774 Hodek J., Schulenburg J., Mittendorf T., 2011 Measuring economic consequences of preterm birth Methodological recommendations for the evaluation of personal burden on children and their caregivers Retrieved on November 26, 2014 from http://www.healtheconomicsreview.com/content/1/1/6

Project Quality and Risk Management

Phase 5-DB Project Quality and Risk Management PM610-Project Management, Execution, and Closure Risk is best defined basically as the potential to suffer a loss of some sort. Risk analysis is the process of defining and analyzing the dangers to individuals, businesses and government agencies posed by potential natural and human-caused adverse events. In IT, a risk analysis report can be used to align technology-related objectives with a company's business objectives.A risk analysis report can be either quantitative or qualitative. (Search Mid-Market Security 2010). Now that we understand what risk analysis is, ley us examine the two types: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative risk analysis is the most popular and does not involve any numerical probabilities or predictions of loss. The qualitative method certainly does involve defining the various threats, determining the extent of vulnerabilities and devising countermeasures should an attack occur.Quantitative risk analysis atte mpts to numerically determine the probabilities of various adverse events to the likelihood of the losses if it is a particular event that takes place. Qualitative risk analysis is appropriate to use when you need to determine which risk are important enough to manage. On way is to identify the severity of the impact to the project in terms of high, medium, or low. Also when you want to estimate the probability of the risk occurring in terms of high, medium, or low.So getting a quick estimate, not so much as counting them, will help to gauge how the project is doing in the project life cycle. Quantitative risk analysis is appropriate to use when your objective is to calculate the numeric values for each component of the data gathered during the risk assessment and the cost benefit analysis. For example, the true value of each business asset in terms is estimated in terms of what it would cost to replace it, what it would cost in terms of lost productivity, what it would cost in term s of brand reputation, and other direct and indirect business values.The process requires the user to attempt to use the same objectivity when computing asset exposure, cost of controls, and all of the other values that are identified during the risk management process. (Information Network and Security, 2013) For the IRTC customer service system project, I think I will use both the qualitative and quantitative risk analysis methods to some degree. Using the qualitative risk method will take into consideration the additional funds and resources needed as well as the extra hours it will take to complete the add-on to the project.The quantitative method will help manage the risk factor whether high, medium, or low to show the vendors, the project team and management what to tackle first. This will be especially helpful as the change request is going through appropriations. References Rouse, Margaret (2010). Definition Risk Analysis Retrieved on 19 March 2013, from www. searchmidmarket security. techtarget/com The Security Practitioner (2013). An Introduction to Information, Network and Security. Quantitative Risk Assessment. Retrieved on 20 March 2013, from www. security. practitioner. com

Ocd Research Paper

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder. An individual with OCD tends to worry about many different things. On average, one out of fifty adults currently suffer from this disorder, and twice that many have had it at some point in their lives. When worries, doubts, or superstitious beliefs become excessive then a diagnosis of OCD is made. With OCD it is thought that the brain gets stuck on a particular thought or urge and just can't let go. Most often people with OCD describe the symptoms as a case of mental hiccups that won't go away. This causes problems in information processing.OCD was generally thought as untreatable until the arrival of modern medications and cognitive behavior therapy. Most people continue to suffer even though they had years of ineffective psychotherapy. Today treatments tend to help most people with OCD. OCD is not completely curable but is somewhat treatable. OCD is a potentially disabling condition that may persist through out a person's life and get worse without treatment. An individual with OCD becomes trapped in a pattern of repetitive thoughts and behaviors that are senseless and distressing but are extremely powerful and hard to overcome.OCD can occur in cases from mild to severe, but if left untreated can destroy a persons life and capacity to function at work, school, and even at home. Some of the worries and rituals can get out of control. An individual life becomes dominated by thoughts and behaviors they know make absolutely no sense but they are powerless to control. People with OCD tend to fear uncertainty; these people are plagued by persistent and recurring thoughts or â€Å"obsessions† that they find very disturbing. These thoughts usually reflect exaggerated anxiety or fears that have no basis on reality.A person who suffers from OCD has constant doubts about their behaviors and constantly seeks assurance from other people. Many people who suffer from this disorder feel compell ed to perform certain rituals or routines to help relieve the anxiety caused by their â€Å"obsessions†, however the relief is only temporary. Some rituals or â€Å"obsessions† include cleaning, checking, repeating, slowness, and hoarding. Usually an individual has both obsessions and compulsions, though sometimes they have only one or the other.A person with OCD usually wants everything around them to be perfect. {What is 1}? Most common symptoms of OCD go along with a certain compulsion for instance: A need to tell, ask, or confess goes along with praying. A need to have things â€Å"just so† goes along with hoarding or saving. Forbidden thoughts equals arranging. Excessive religious or moral doubt = counting. Intrusive sexual thoughts or urges cause touching. Imagining losing control or aggressive urges causes checking. Imagining having harmed ones self or others creates the symptom of repeating.Fear of contamination or germs causes constant washing. Compulsi ons are intrusive thoughts, impulses, and images that feel out of control and occur over and over again. A sufferer does not want to have these ideas and knows that they don't make any sense but find them intrusive and disturbing. A person with OCD may be obsessed with the idea they are contaminated or may contaminate someone else and worry excessively about dirt and germs. This person could also have an intense fear that they harmed someone else although they usually know it is not realistic. {What 3}Some of the most common obsessions of OCD in children are extreme concern with order, concern that a task or assignment has been done poorly or incorrectly, concern with certain sounds or images, fear that a disaster will occur, there is also the fear of AIDS, fear of getting dirty, fear of losing important things, recurring thoughts, and a fear of saying something wrong. Checking compulsions are rituals that are precipitated by fear of harm to oneself or others and this includes the c hecking of doors, locks, heaters, alarms, faucets, switches, and other objects that could be a threat.This can create problems for the learning of a child. For example while getting ready for school a child may check his or her books several times to make sure they are all there even to the point where the child is late for school. Once the child is in school they may call to return home and check their books once more. These rituals may also interfere with the completion of homework. This could make a child work late at night to complete an assignment that could have taken ten minutes to complete. Repeating compulsions are rituals in which some one repeats a certain action over and over again.These rituals can in some cases be anxiety driven and in other cases have to be done â€Å"just so†. For instance a person might walk backward and forward or get up and down from a chair many times until the ritual is performed â€Å"just right†. These rituals are also connected with counting rituals. In children the rituals can assume many forms in the classroom. This could lead to many repeated questions because the child may need to remember or know something. On written assignments the student could endlessly cross out, trace, or rewrite letters or words.Lockers can also cause a problem because the combination may need to be repeated several times till it feels right. Note taking is most likely impossible because the student is compelled to take every word down. Computer scored tests are a nightmare because the student has to fill in the circles perfectly. Uncomfortable feelings such as fear, disgust, doubt, or a sensation that things have to be â€Å"just so† usually accompany obsessions. A person tries to make their obsessions go away by performing certain compulsive rituals. These compulsions are acts that an individual may perform repeatedly, often according to certain â€Å"rules†.OCD symptoms do not give a person pleasure but a sense of temporary relief for a short period of time. The relief is only temporary and the discomfort always comes back. These relieve make up a lot of time and interfere with a person's social life and relationships. The less common form of OCD is hoarding which is the excessive saving of typically worthless items. A most commonly thought form of OCD is contamination. This is the awareness of germs, disease, or the presence of dirt that evokes a sense of threat and an incredible inspiration to reduce the presence of contamination.The compulsion of contamination involves a cleaning response such as hand washing and chronic cleaning. {Steven1} Another common form of OCD is checking. Checking involves door locks, lights, switches, faucets, stoves, or items left unchecked that might pose a threat to ones well being or the well being of others. It is not uncommon for people to check items between 10 to 100 times a day. The impulse to recheck can remain until the person experiences a reductio n in tension despite the realization that the item is secure.One other less common form of OCD is ordering in which a person feels compelled to place items in a designated spot in order. Although contamination fears frequently lead to excessive washing they can also have the opposite affect, shoes may be untied, teeth unbrushed, clothing may be slovenly and hair may be dirty. In these cases, fear of contamination of personal objects or body parts leads to the individuals’ refusal to touch them. A combination of excessive hand washing and sloppiness in other areas of grooming had even been reported. Obsessions revolving around a need for symmetry may result in compulsive arranging.Children who engage in symmetry-related rituals may also feel compelled to have both sides of their bodies identical. For instance a child my spend an inordinate amount of time tying and retying shoelaces so that each side of the bow is perfectly even or â€Å"balanced†. Symmetry rituals may c onsist of taking steps that are identical in length or speaking with equal stress on each syllable. In a classroom, symmetry rituals may be seen in the student's compelling need for order. Books on a shelf, items on a desk, or problems on a page must be arranged in a precise manner so that they can appear symmetrical to the student.Most people recognize at some point that their obsessions are not just worries about real problems but are coming from their minds. Compulsions are excessive or unreasonable but the sufferer has to perform them. OCD poor insight is an individual that not recognize that their beliefs and actions are unreasonable and unreal. Extreme severe distress tends to happen when the symptoms wax and ware over time. OCD symptoms can start at any age from as early as preschool too as late as adulthood. 1/3 of 1/2 of adult sufferers said that their symptoms started during their childhood.On an average people spend 9 years seeking a diagnosis and see up to 3 to 4 doctors . Studies also show that it takes an average 17 years from the time OCD begins for an individual to find appropriate treatment. {What 3} OCD may be under diagnosed and untreated for a number of reasons. People with OCD may be secretive about their symptoms or lack insight on the illness. Many healthcare providers are not familiar with the symptoms and are not trained to provide treatment. Some people may also not have access to treatment resources. This is unfortunate since early diagnoses and proper treatment can help an individual.Research suggests genes do play a role in development of the disorder yet no specific genes have been found for OCD. Childhood onset tends to run in the family. An increasing risk for a child getting OCD is if the parent has it. When OCD runs in families it seems to be inherited but not the specific symptoms. One example is if a child has checking rituals his mother might wash excessively. There is no single proven cause for OCD. Research suggests that O CD could involve problems in communication between the brain and deeper structures although this is not proven. what 4} For many years only a small minority of healthcare professionals patients had OCD there for it was thought to be rare. OCD went unrecognized often because many of those afflicted with it kept their repetitive thoughts a secret and failed to seek treatment. This led to the underestimate of the number of people with the illness. {obsessions 1} In approximately 80% of all cases, people performing the rituals are painfully aware that their behavior is unreasonable and irrational. OCD is an anxiety disorder the thought associated with OCD is bizarre.The thoughts associated with OCD are recurrent obsessions that create an awareness of alarm or threat. Obsessions can take form of a threat or physical alarm to oneself or others. People typically engage in some avoidance or escape response in reaction to the obsessive threat. There are three main branches of OCD. The most c ommon and well-known branch of OCD is known as OC where the undoing response generally involves some overt behavior. The next branch of OCD is purely obsess ional this involves the escape or avoidance of noxious and unwanted thoughts.There are a number of treatment strategies, which are specific to obsessive problems. For example, motivations neutralizing behavior and other counter-productive strategies, increasing selective attention and increased negative mood. These serve to maintain the negative beliefs and therefore the obsessive-compulsive problem. Most recently developments in cognitive therapy suggest that the key to understanding obsession problems lies in the way the intrusive thoughts, images, impulses and doubts are interpreted. The general and specific aspects of cognitive-behavioral treatment are described.The important negative interpretations usually include the idea that a person's actions can result in harm to onset to others. This responsibility interpretation has several consequences. { steven 1} OCD can change and affect a person’s life in many ways sometimes alienating them from their friends and family. Many sufferers with OCD are never diagnosed because they are so secretive about their symptoms. They are afraid to let people know and are even embarrassed about their compulsive reactions. It is a fact that approximately one million children and adolescents in the United States alone suffer from OCD.This means that 3 to 5 children in an average elementary school and 20 teenagers in a large high school are currently suffering. OCD affects adolescents during an important time of social development. Schoolwork, homework, and friendships are affected most often. Most children are to young to realize that there obsessions and compulsions are unusual. Adolescents are embarrassed because they don't want to be different from other people and they worry uncontrollably about their behavior. These adolescents usually hide their rituals in fr ont of friends at school or at home and become mentally exhausted and strained.Children and adolescents that suffer from OCD are different from adults because they express their disorder in special ways. Young children often say their rituals are silly. Young children's OCD is never really recognized by their parents until they are about 3 or 4 sometimes even older. To get a proper diagnosis the child should be brought to a doctor or psychiatrist. While a child is at school they usually erase and redo their assignments, which usually results in late schoolwork. Classroom concentration is usually limited because a child is obsessing about their fears and rituals.Parents should tell a child's teacher about the OCD and may ask for occasional progress reports. OCD is not contagious and parents are often blamed for the disorder they are said to have parental perfections, inappropriate toilet training, or even under parenting. The cause for OCD is neurobiological. Although life events can also aid in the onset of OCD. Children's OCD is often said to be started by a death of a loved one, a divorce, moving to a new location, or unhappiness with changes in school. Approximately 80 percent of children and adolescents with OCD at some point during their illness will develop a washing or cleaning ritual.The most common compulsion is hand washing. An individual may feel compelled to wash their hands extensively and according to a self-prescribed manner for minutes or hours at a time. Other individuals may be less thorough about washing or cleaning but may engage in the act a number of times a day sometimes even hundreds. During school these rituals may manifest themselves in the school setting as subtle behaviors not obviously or immediately related to washing or cleaning. The student’s teacher should be alert if the student frequently excuses himself or herself from the classroom under voiding or guise.This child could actually be seeking a private area in which to carry out the cleaning rituals. Another sign is the presence of dry, red, chapped, cracked, or even bleeding hands. Bleeding hands are a result of washing with strong cleaning agents such as â€Å"Mr. Clean† to free themselves of â€Å"contaminants†. OCD sufferers usually experience obsessional thoughts that lead to compulsive avoidance in these cases, individuals may go to great lengths to avoid objects, substances, or situations that are capable of triggering fear or discomfort.For example, fear of contamination may result in the avoiding of objects usually found in the classroom, things like paint, glue, paste, clay, tape, and ink. A child may even inappropriately cover their hands with clothing or gloves or may use facial tissue, shirts, or shirt cuffs to open doors or turn on faucets. A student with an obsessive fear of harm may avoid using scissors or other sharp tools in the classroom. A child may even circumvent the use of a certain doorway because a passage t hrough that entry may trigger a repeating ritual.Children and adolescents with OCD may also engage in compulsive reassurance seeking. In the school setting, they may continually ask teachers or other school personnel for reassurance that there for example are no germs on the drinking fountain or that they have not made any errors on a page. Although reassurance may serve to allay the anxiety or discomfort that frequently accompanies their fears the relief is often short lived, different situations typically arise in the classroom that pose new fears or discomfort for the student.Number obsessions are typically common among young boys. Only certain numbers are â€Å"safe† other numbers are â€Å"bad†. An obsession with a particular number may result in a child's having to repeat an action a given number of times or having to repeatedly count to a particular number. Some children with strong religious ties have an obsessive fear that they are doing something evil. This s ymptom of OCD is called â€Å"scrupulosity† and causes an individual to tell themselves that they constantly commit sins, and they must pray constantly or find ways to condone their imagined sins.Members of the catholic religion who suffer from this may go to confession many times a week. Some individuals create elaborate systems to avoid certain thoughts, memories, or actions, or to replace or equalize â€Å"sinful† thoughts with pure good ones. One of the most reported obsessions in youth with OCD is a fear of contamination. This fear may center on a concern with germs, dirt, ink, paint, excrement, body secretions, blood, chemicals, and other substances. Recently, an increase in obsessions with AIDS had also been witnessed.Preoccupation with contamination may lead to the avoidance of suspected contaminants or constant findings in studies such as testing the effectiveness of different therapies; strongly suggest that it is the working alliance or bond between therapis t and patient, which is paramount to therapeutic success. Interpersonal aspects of treatment such as 1. comfort 2. confidence and 3. a true commitment from both patient and therapist make a great deal of difference in fostering an atmosphere of collaboration. To be successful both the patient and the therapist need to bring their fullest devotion to the explicit and implicit contract of therapy.By saying this it means that at the end of each session both parties need to come to an agreement of the next week's challenges. The patient must except the responsibility and be willing to participate in his or her challenges. Clients can choose to share the challenges of this therapy with an experienced partner or they can choose to decline. The principles of this therapy focus on fostering a sense of therapeutic independence on the part of the client. Equally important to training, knowledge, experience, and credentials are understanding, compassion and warmth.Most often the cognitive-beha viorist believes that self-disclosure is a healthy part of any relationship, including a therapeutic one. Therefore when a client answers questions about themselves it is considered a natural and healthy part of the therapeutic exchange. {steven phillipson 1} The basic premise of this therapy is based on the belief that at the heart of depression exist distorted and irrational thinking patterns. Such patterns revolve around our automatic reactions toward life circumstances, which create upsetting emotional consequences.CBT was developed to assist patients to respond rationally to automatic irrational thoughts. Here automatic thoughts are said to be mental reflexive reactions to upsetting events. Typically, the approach teaches people to learn to identify our reflexive reactions or â€Å"beliefs† that occur as a consequence to upsetting events, that are responsible for the periodic upset we experience. Traditional therapist that specialize in CBT focus on teaching clients to s ubstitute rational thinking for automatic irrational thinking. {steven phillipson 2}Basic CBT believes that within all of us exist irrational ideas. This therapeutic intervention is based on therapists' faith in our ability to learn how to sort out the difference between being rational and irrational. At the heart of learning is the belief that we learn from society, family, and religion how to think in dysfunctional and irrational ways. Traditional CBT for patients suffering with OCD is therefore likely to be counter productive toward achieving a beneficial therapeutic outcome. This approach assumes that persons are reacting irrationally to a rationally safe situation.The problem is that the majority of OCD patients are aware that what they are doing is bizarre and irrational. Most can even predict that the risk of danger is infinitesimal. Yet they feel overwhelmingly compelled to act out some escape response. Therefore using traditional CBT: activating event, automatic thought, em otional reaction, and rational response would be futile. Traditional CBT was developed as a treatment for depression. The two basic components entail, 1. the behind the scenes strategizing and 2. the front line conflict.It is very important not to mix up the appropriate application of these two separate strategies when dealing with OCD. The manner in which one conceptualizes a battle and the behavior exerted in fighting it, are very different. {steven phillipson 3} Cognitive therapy for OCD predominantly focuses on the two mentioned aspects of this disorder. The first aspect initially involves having sufferers develop a healthy and informed understanding of how the mechanisms of OCD operate. This focus will be referred to as cognitive conceptualization.Cognitive conceptualization includes having the sufferer separate themselves from the emotional or moral implications of what the disorder seems to represent. Many people who suffer from the purely obsessional form of this condition a nd responsibility experience tremendous amounts of guilt and shame for having these thoughts or being responsible for the wellbeing of others. Also involved with the first aspect is having clients appreciate that giving in to a ritual or embracing the risk of the obsession, requires making a series of genuine choices and are not pre-programmed reflexive reactions.Critical aspects of this focus involve reshaping one's response set to the risk. This involves concentrating on one's relationship with their condition as that of making choices in the matter of giving in the ritual, or not. This viewpoint is in difference to perceiving the reaction to cognitive threats as obligatory or as having no choice in the matter. In practice this translates into having patients reframe their disposition from, â€Å"I had to† to â€Å"I chose to†.Research has clearly showed that acknowledging our choice in the matter of facing difficult life challenges increases one's tolerance to adver sity. Consistently studies have demonstrated that our ability to tolerate pain is greatly increased as we acknowledge our choice in relation to the decision to seek relief or to tolerate the discomfort. As our perceptible sense of control increases so does our willingness to tolerate discomfort. A minor but crucial aspect of cognitive-conceptualization involves educating people about the actual risks pertaining to their specific concerns.Unfortunately medical science doesn't offer total certainty. Therefore telling someone that the chances of getting AIDS from a door knob is slim at best, does little to take away the general concern. Some people claim to have been guided by their disorder for so long that they have forgotten their real instincts. In addition, becoming informed that people who spike about being a danger to others rarely actually do damaging things or that person with anxiety disorders almost by no means develops schizophrenia might educate, but rarely provides lastin g relief. Steven Phillipson 4} Cognitive-management is the second goal of CT; this involves teaching individuals to respond to obsessive threats in a way that there is little to no debate in response to being spiked. The main goal is to reduce conflict or mental escape in formulating a response to the upsetting thought. The end product is referred to as habituation. Principles are also included in cognitive-management. These principles enhance greater levels of tolerance toward the physical discomfort, generated by the anxiety.The principles include making space for the discomfort and looking upon it as something to be managed effectively, rather that just achieving a period of relief. The search to eliminate the spike is more than likely the greatest cognitive misconceptualization that people bring to the therapeutic process. Eventually the goal of CT for OCD is to manage he spike effectively, not to focus on its existence or disappearance. The same thing could be said about the ex perience of anxiety. Tolerating anxiety focuses on developing room for the experience.Developing room for its presence enables the brain to focus on other information. Cognitive conceptualization focuses on helping take out a sense of culpability, guilt and shame, which is pervasive among obsessive-compulsive sufferers. To access the ideas and philosophy of cognitive-conceptualization in the midst of the challenge would be unadvised because it would tend to be reassurance oriented. The goal for later on in the treatment is instructive in aiding a person's respond effectively to the cognitive prompt of the danger with the least resistance, which thereby allows habituation.Creating an aggressive disposition toward a challenge is tremendously advantageous toward a successful recovery. Aggressiveness is defined as actively looking for anxiety provoking challenges. Paradoxically, when a person seeks an anxiety provoking challenge there tends to be a greater likelihood that experiencing r educed levels of anxiety is achieved. This comes out due to changing the condition's momentum from endless escape to approach. â€Å"As we seek challenges there is less likelihood of finding them†. Cognitive therapy for OCD has two main applications 1. o help people understand the guidelines of anxiety disorders overall plan 2. to provide specific suggestions in response to the moment of being challenged by awareness that there is some imminent danger. Cognitive principles to assist sufferers develop a healthy disposition in the direction of their anxiety is The statement â€Å"within the question lies the answer† proposes that when confronted with a seemingly sincere risk, relying on the consciousness that there is doubt and therefore making the strength of mind to receive the possibility will get rid of a enormous quantity of difficulty solving. steven phillipson 6} The ultimate aspect of cognitive management entails deliberately creating the consciousness and nature of the chance while engaging in the uncovering exercise. This strategy suggests that combining the behavior a compulsive act with a self-talk enhances the impact of an uncovering exercise. Making the choice to put up with the risk tends to close down the brain's natural propensity to alert its host, through physical uneasiness and cognitive warnings, that you should feel unpleasant until the danger is removed.Overall CT involves providing a sufferer with specific responses to the spikes and educating them about the distinction between having these concerns and separating one's identity from the topics of the condition and highlighting general strategies which facilitate anxiety management. This goes to say that providing reassurances and attempting to educate the sufferer about the truly limited risks involved in the spikes is counterproductive and alienating. {steven phillipson 7} lead to excessive washing.

Reflecting on critique Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflecting on critique - Assignment Example We try to freeze the moment with the help of photography, capture the history that is why photography is something that shows us what happened and will never repeat again. That is why the art of photography as a genre is complicated in terms of time, authenticity, and artistic value. Photographic image is completely different from all the other types of images as it possesses great power and potency. It is capable of telling a story, serving as the evidence of the event or a person and at the same time retrieved from the context it can become a pure visual form. Traditionally photography served as a means of documentation of social and family life, and as soon as it appeared it became a privilege of certain classes. For a long time any portrait photography remained a luxury, an exclusive thing, a product that emphasized social status first of all and was affordable only to higher classes of society. Miniature or big family portraits adorned bedrooms of those who could afford going to salons to take a picture (Tagg, 1988, 53). In a broader sense documentary photography aimed to depict such events and circumstances that were inaccessible or not easily accessible. Documentary photography flourished during historically important events initially, such as American Civil War for instance, when whole photography archives were created. That type of photography was based on the principle of objectivity and trustfulness, and photography was and still remains a means of information transfer for a long time. With media empowering photojournalism became a separate type of documentation based on the capacity to demonstrate the information that is unknown or hidden (Stapp, 2007, 691). Later photography became a pure visual art in which depiction of reality and its documentation has lost its primary significance. Fashion, travelling magazines made artistic photography goods for selling. Photography has turned into a product as people learned how to evoke the

Cultural Group of a Barber Salon Research Paper

Cultural Group of a Barber Salon - Research Paper Example raphic trends had a negative impact on these businesses which faced a decline after a loss in their target customers due to the war recruitments, depression era recession and the development of convenient home based grooming tools such as the Gillette disposable razor and mass produced home hair cutting kits (Brett, 2008). The traditional barber shops catering to only male staff were largely replaced in the 1970’s and 80’s by uni sex cosmetic centers like â€Å"SuperCuts† which had none of the culture aimed specifically at the male customers. However, this is not to say that these establishments vanished from social centers completely, a combination of nostalgic and cultural attachments as well as a basic service needs have allowed niche shops and centers to operate. Now, the rise in male grooming culture has created a revival of modern barber shops in the past few decades. While the conventional Barber Salons, personified by their 3-4 chair lineup, broad window displays and wood furnishings and all male staff are no longer the most popular form of the business set up, vestiges of the traditional set up can still be found in the new service centers. Modern Barber Salons can be now be divided into several sub-cultures, each with its own unique offerings, culture, ambiance and target customers. The first category belongs to Barber shops owned and operated by African American businessmen and catering mainly to the black populations. The barber shop has an intertwined history with the slave age and segregation era, where black slaves were trained with the skills to provide grooming services to the colonial land owners and plantation families (Holliday, 2013). With the evolution of civil rights and changing cultural ideologies, these black barbers became the country’s first business owners in their segregated neighborhoods, providing necessary services to the men of their communities. Even today, there are Black barber shops in inner city areas which act as

The Effects that William Penn Building Has on Its Surroundings Research Paper

The Effects that William Penn Building Has on Its Surroundings - Research Paper Example Penn himself suggested the name the Latin name of "Sylvania" for this place, which means land of woods, but King Charles of England amended it to â€Å"Pennsylvania† which means Penn’s woods, in order to pay great regards for Penn. In the honor of the founder of the city, a huge bronze statue of Penn is mounted over the top of city’s hall building, also termed as the William Penn building. Penn was not only a good state developer, but he was also one of the early voices for democracy & the union of states. He had very good relations with the colonials & he was in favor of united states of Europe too, along with the United States of America. He proposed some principles for the Pennsylvanian government which are of great inspiration in today’s US constitution. He argued in his most writings that unity is the solution to the problems faced in that time particularly & there is no place for war & unnecessary occupation over people & places. Since his childhood he had seen many sufferings; he was a deep reader of human reaction to sufferings & epidemics & always preferred peace & harmony between people of every place & every religion. The William Penn building has been built on a public square termed by Penn as the Centre square since it is located at the middle of the city of Philadelphia. The centre square is one of the squares laid by Penn himself & planned that it would be a ten-acre place for public buildings. Hence according to his wishes, the Philadelphia city hall has been built at the place. The construction started in the year 1871 & since then many changes have been made to the building with a total cost of $24 million. It covers a total area of 58,222 m ² & is of 167  m height including the bronze statue of William Penn. The building was completed in the year 1901 & since then it has been one of the tallest buildings in the world. For many years, it was forbidden to build any building in the surroundings which gets higher than the statue of Penn, but then the restriction was lifted. It is also the largest  municipal building in the United States. It was designed by a famous architect of that time s John McArthur, Jr. in the second empire style of architecture.  

THE LOTTERY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

THE LOTTERY - Essay Example In this case, Jackson questions this tradition implicitly by stating that the villagers are not very conscious about the actual lottery but still continue to conserve its tradition (Jackson 7). The writer reveals how rationalizing such a primal tradition makes it difficult to view any rituals involved as anything but hypocritical. As a result, only readers can see the madness of this tradition by the villagers. The theme of tradition is very applicable today. Much emphasis and emotional value is placed on yearly celebrations such as Christmas and New Year’s Day. On top of these emphases, consumerism marks both traditions and impairs any rational judgment required to rethink their rue values to society. Christmas today cannot be celebrated without overindulging in shopping behavior and bodily consumption to the extent that shoppers get violent when products sell out in stores. I think society’s blind adoption of excessive consumption during Christmas as a tradition allows it cover its ears to any logic and has ultimately become part of its

Democracy in the Third World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Democracy in the Third World - Essay Example (Tilly, 2007) There are various questions that need to be raised in this context which are as follows: Nationalism is that phenomenon which stems from complete loyalty and love for one's nation. Under the influence of nationalism, a citizen forms his personal sense of identity in context of the broad characterization of the nation. This consequently leads to mass identity along the same lines when like minded persons get together - a phenomenon better described as national identity. Reversibly, the identity of a nation is formed by the sentiments, attitudes and broad cultural assimilation under which its people function. The theories of nationalism and national identity are complementary to each other, and these inspire entire generations. (Tilly, 2007) Two strong factor that influences nationalism is a legacy of colonisation along with the ethnic groups. These factors, when combined provide a series of influences on the culture, historical experience and other such aspects of a nation or a state. This is due to the fact that the effect of colonisation is most seen on the evolution of ethnic groups. This is of special importance when studying a state in a third world country, where ethnic groups and tribes are of paramount importance in the basic structure of the demographics. Third world countries have seen the ravages of colonisation and are still attached to strong ethnic sentiments, in most cases. This makes for a strong context for nationalism. Yet, the character of nationalism and national identity is not enough for the survival of democracy. Democracy requires the strong footing of policy in order to support development so as to maintain a focus on nationalism and not just fighting poverty and hunger. Participants in Public Policy Public policy may be defined as that state of things or action where the public authorities exercise their freedom of choice in order to deal with certain issues. The tools or mechanisms used to deal with these issues are known as public policy. Public policy may also be defined as a set of decisions that are interrelated to one another. These decisions in turn, are taken by political parties, or other individuals involved in social service, with the broad aim of selection of certain goals that will fit into the situation at hand. Public policy may be implements to various aspects of one's public and domestic life, including welfare, health, justice, feminist policies, and interest group conflict, among various others. (Dye, 2001, p. 4 to 7)2 In this context, the participants in the public policy process may be segregated into two categories. The first are the official participants comprising of

What were the critical success factors allowing the corporate venture Essay

What were the critical success factors allowing the corporate venture between SAS and IranAir to succeed - Essay Example The professional article Customer Focused Service Development in Practice – Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) by Guustafsson, Ekdahl and Edvarsson shows that Scandinavian Airlines System is currently improving its face value by implementing many dramatic changes. This changes were to keep up with the competition’s services. For, the current and prospective customers of Scandinavian Airline System had seriously impressed their demands and complaints that has forced the administration of SAS to dance to the music of the customers. Historically, many airline companies have closed their ears to the suggestions and recommendations of the flying public. Many airline companies feel that they are too engrossed in their stagnant self–centered theory that the Airline companies should build a fence to cut off the customer’s complaints and suggestions. Surprisingly, SAS had a questionnaire survey to ferret out the complaints and suggestions from current and prospecti ve customers. Based on results of their survey questions, the new company policy is to prioritize implement programs that the current and prospective clients want in order to increase airline sales.

American reaction to the holocaust Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American reaction to the holocaust - Movie Review Example As a result, several Germans had nowhere to run to, and endured the systematic persecution that characterized the Holocaust. America’s policy significantly reduced immigration into the country owing to the tough economic challenges the country faced at that time. Authorities continued to impose the restrictions after Franklin Roosevelt’s swearing in March 1933. The country genuinely lacked the required resources to accommodate more foreigners (Akbulut-Yuksel and Yuksel 3). Even so, most Americans did not hold Jews in good light and considered their presence in America as unfavorable. Sympathetic Americans and Jewish leaders imposed sanctions on German goods, with the assumption that economic pressure might compel Hitler to stop his anti-Semitic strategy (London Jewish Cultural Center 1). Following pressure the Roosevelt administration from influential American Jews concerning refugees, the government eased its stringent visa regulations. American press and news media failed to give the Holocaust the attention and extensive coverage it deserved. Reports about the Holocaust were often in the middle pages of the dailies (London Jewish Cultural Center 1). Several Germans had invested and made fortunes from the United States stock market before the crash, and the two regions did not have good media relations. Everybody tried to get their money back, but there were not enough reserves. America needed money too, but Germany could not afford to pay them back their money. Journalists gave atrocity reports a wide berth, as they feared reproach from the government after an erroneous publication about Germany during the First World War. The Bermuda conference, and several other meetings America held with other countries were fruitless. Germany was an influential military and economic power in Europe at the start of the nineteenth century (Nevick 35). Even so, warfare ruined the country’s economy and it restricted imports and exports. The 1929

Patty Hearst Trail 1976 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Patty Hearst Trail 1976 - Research Paper Example Therefore, it is crucial to ensure justice prevails in the civilized world (Farrington, 2003). Patricia Hearst was a victim of violence for a period in her life. She was the heiress of a wealthy father who was adopted from her father’s house by a Liberation Army. She was however seen later on committing crimes and also participating in the activities of the radical group. The main crime that she committed was the bank robbery. According to the trait theory of criminology, crime is related to mental aspects of the individual. On the case of Patricia Hearst, there were assumptions that she was brainwashed. The theory states that there is a relationship between learning, intelligence, personality and also criminal behavior. There is also a psychodynamic perspective that had been stated by Freud, and it states that a personality in human has an ego; the personality manages the impulse of the id. It also manages the moral standards of an individual that are representations of the superego. According to this perception, criminals are seen as persons who are dominated by id, and they are unable to control their drives of seeking pleasure (Maguire et al, 2012). Another aspect in the trait theory of criminology is that the theory encompasses behavioral theories. Behavioral theories indicate that human beings behave the way they do due to the experiences they have encountered. Theorists in the sociological department indicate that violence is learned through exposure. On the case of Patricia Hearst she was a victim of abduction and also aggression. In one of the occasions, Patricia Hearst participated in a bank robbery in Hibernia. The security cameras that recorded the robbery were later on analyzed by the authorities and also played in the national television. Various conclusions were derived from the tapes; some of the conclusions indicated that Patricia Hearst was willing to commit a crime

Operations management Essay Example for Free

Operations management Essay This assignment requires student complete an analysis of the LensCrafters case from Chapter 6 of the text. Write a six page paper in which you: 1. Evaluate LensCrafters’ operations strategy and explain how the organization seeks to gain a competitive advantage in terms of sustainability. 2. Analyze how operation management activities affect the customer experience. Select two (2) operation management challenges and provide the solutions for confronting them. 3. Examine LensCrafters’ value chain and evaluate its effectiveness to operations in terms of quality, value creation, and customer satisfaction. 4. Determine the different types of performance measurements that can be used to measure LensCrafters’ service-delivery system design. Select at least two (2) types that can be applied and provide justifications for the selection. 5. Examine the different types of technologies applied to LensCrafters’ service operations and evaluate how the technologies strengthen the value chain. 6. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: †¢ Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. †¢ Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are: †¢ Apply the concept of operations management. †¢ Compare and contrast the difference between a supply chain and a value chain. †¢ Analyze the types of measures used for decision making. †¢ Analyze the five key competitive priorities and their relationship to operations strategy. †¢ Analyze different types of technology and their role in manufacturing and service operations. †¢ Use technology and information resources to research issues in operations management. †¢ Write clearly and concisely about operations management using proper writing mechanics. †¢ Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.

Housing, Economic Growth and Poverty: A Literature Review

Housing, Economic Growth and Poverty: A Literature Review Abstract This paper reviews literature on the relationship between housing finance, economic growth and poverty.   While it is evident that housing construction creates jobs, the review reveals that there is a need for more research to determine the long-term economic benefits of housing and whether housing finance in particular can be an effective tool in eradicating poverty.   The limited evidence is due in part to limits in data and the need to utilize robust econometric techniques to determine the direction of causality in these relationships (i.e. does increased economic growth lead to increased demand for housing and hence housing construction and finance or does housing construction and finance lead to increased economic growth and lower poverty).   Though little direct evidence was found, the financial deepening literature suggests that as housing finance deepens financial markets, it may play a role in poverty alleviation.   This relationship should be investigated further. 1. Introduction While the focus of this review is to summarize empirical evidence regarding the relationship between housing, economic growth and poverty, there is considerable stylized and anecdotal evidence that makes a case for housing as a prescription for poverty.   This literature is extensive although recent books on eradicating poverty in the developing world say very little explicitly about the role of housing.   The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs (2011), states that most would accept that fact that schools, clinics, roads, electricity, ports, soil nutrients, clean drinking water; and the like are the basic necessities for a life of dignity and health, as well as for economic productivity.   Sachs goes on to delineate the strategy for ending extreme poverty by 2025.   While he mentions key investments in people and in infrastructure, he does not explicitly mention housing.   The same can be said of Banerjee and Duflo (2011) and Karlan and Appel (2011).   Perhaps there is an und erlying assumption that housing is necessary.   Perhaps, housing is considered part of the infrastructure that they refer to. Or, perhaps the underlying belief is that economic growth will lead to better housing conditions. At any rate, a specific consideration of the impact of housing on poverty is not given in these recent books on the subject of eradicating poverty in this millennium.   This is representative of what was discovered upon reviewing the empirical literature on this issue. Some authors assert that housing loans and finance are needed but do not provide economic analysis to back this claim.   For example, Bunnarith (2004) in discussing national housing policy in Cambodia asserts that â€Å"housing is needed so that people can have a safe and secure environment.†Ã‚   There is no discussion in his policy paper of the true economic impact of housing construction or finance on economic growth or poverty reduction.   Similarly, Habitat for Humanity specifically acknowledges that housing is necessary to eradicate poverty.   In ‘Consequences of Poverty Housing,’ Habitat for Humanity asserts that the lack of suitable housing creates disadvantages at many levels.   It is seen as interfering with a household’s ability to break out of poverty because so much of the household’s time and money is spent on house maintenance and repairs and not on food, health, education and income generation.   Due to a lack of suitable housing, there is less efficiency arising from illnesses, inability to educate children and an inability to provide a safe and secure environment for economic endeavors.   These are testable implications but little has been done to document these losses empirically, likely due to data limitations.   Some evidence is found and listed in the education section. While there is quite a bit of literature on the interactions between GDP and housing investment, there is surprisingly little evidence documenting the relationship between housing, economic growth and poverty.   One reason for the limited evidence is limitations in quantity of data in developing countries, especially the poorest ones, Hull (2009).   A second reason for the limited evidence is that it is difficult to determine the direction of causality between economic growth and housing.   Ã‚  There is a need to use general equilibrium models which are not easily tested with the available data in the developing countries.   Data limitations are particularly severe when trying to test these relationships in the poorest of the developing countries.   Finally, macroeconomics and housing finance were not studied in depth in economic literature prior to the 1980s, even for the U.S.   Ã‚  When studies were done they typically looked at housing demand as a function of income and growth not the impact of housing on economic growth, see Leung (2004).   Even if where there is analysis of housing finance in developed countries, it may be difficult to make direct inferences about relationships between housing and economic growth in developing countries using those results because so many other factors are at work including financial sector development, government involvement and types of housing. With these limitations in mind, there is some information that may be useful in analyzing the impact of housing finance on economic growth, job creation and poverty.   The impact of housing on economic growth, in developed and some developing markets is highlighted in the next section.   Next, there is a review of the impact of housing on job growth.   The third section reviews what is known about the impact of housing and housing finance on job creation.   Section four reviews the impact of housing finance on poverty.   Some inferences in that section are based on studies of financial market development on poverty.   Section five examines potential social and revenue consequences of housing.   Finally there is a summary of findings in section six. 2. Housing and Economic Impact Housing and Economic Growth: Hongyu, Park and Siqi (2002) recognize the causality dilemma when studying housing investment and economic growth.   They use Granger causality tests to study the case of China from 1981 – 2000.   This study does not address the poverty impact it just studies housing and economic growth.   The authors find that compared to non-housing investment, housing investment has a stronger short-run effect on economic growth.   They also find that housing investment has a long run impact on economic growth but not on non-housing investment.   On the other hand, economic growth has a long run impact on both housing and non-housing investment.   These findings suggest that housing is important in explaining only short-term economic cycles in economic growth. Chen and Zhu (2008) also study the long- and short- run relationship between housing investment and economic growth in China.   The authors look at panel data from 1999 through 2007.   They use robust econometric tests to examine Granger causality of the relationship and find that the relationship is bidirectional in both short – and long- run.   In other words, in China during this period, housing investment impacted economic growth and vice versa.   It will be interesting to see if this result holds over a longer period where more economic cycles are included in the data.   Interestingly, the relationship is different depending on which provinces are analyzed.   The eastern provinces show bidirectional causality like the overall results but results for other provinces indicate that GDP granger causes housing investment but not vice versa. In addition to the empirical analysis of the relationship between housing and economic growth, there are some estimates of multiplier effects associated with construction in developing countries.   For example, Uy (2006) cites that for every 1 peso spent on housing activities in the Philippines, an additional 16.61 pesos is contributed to the GDP.   In Argentina, Freire, et. al (2006) estimate that a 1,000,000 peso investment in construction leads to 1.8 times that amount in demand.   In 1995, a United Nations study indicated that in most developing countries construction of low- income housing is labor intensive and therefore housing construction has a high multiplier effect of between 2 and 3 times the initial investment.   This arises due to the large infrastructure investment (roads, utilities, water, etc.) required in housing development in those countries.   .   In comparison, The National Association of Realtor’s model suggests that the multiplier for home sales in the U.S. is between 1.34 and 1.62. Erbas and Nothaft (2002) study a sample of MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) countries.   Using parameters from the U.S. they simulate the impact that improved home mortgage availability would have on housing markets and economic growth in these countries.   They find that mortgage market reforms would increase housing units built by 10% with a 600 basis point decline in mortgage interest rates.   The impact that the increased mortgage accessibility and housing would have on economic growth is not significant however.   That is because they find, like other studies, that increased investment in housing â€Å"crowds out† investment in other sectors.   The impact on overall growth will be greater if this housing finance helps to improve small business credit. Housing Finance and Affordability Dübel (2007) proposes a model where housing prices are determined by rents, R, growth, g, and the opportunity cost of capital, k, where P = R/(k g).   The role of housing finance in this model is to reduce the cost of capital.   As that cost is lowered, housing prices fall and affordability of housing increases. Housing and Savings Buckley (1996) cites several reasons that mortgage market development can improve household savings.   First, the return to housing will likely provide positive returns especially in light of rapid urbanization in developing countries.   Second, housing provides the most secure collateral against market fluctuations and a positive yield over the long-run.   Third, housing prices are less volatile than other asset prices.   Fourth, the availability of housing improves labor mobility and therefore employment potential.   Finally, the availability of affordable housing finance may lead to increased savings as potential homeowners save to make the required down payment and to maintain their asset.   While many of the work in this area suggests that there should be benefits to overall savings and investment arising from increased access to affordable housing, the literature does not appear to have documented these benefits empirically.   This is an area rich for further exploration. 3. Housing and Job Creation The Case of the United States Wardrip, Williams and Hague (2011) review the literature on the role of affordable housing in particular, in creating jobs and stimulating local economic development in the U.S.   They find that the development of affordable housing increases spending and employment in the surrounding economy.   There are several models used in the housing literature that use â€Å"inputs† such as information on the purchase and production of goods and services for hundreds of U.S. industry sectors, the type and number of businesses in a given community, and a measure of the spending associated with a given program.   Given these inputs, the models â€Å"output† the level of economic activity expected for a given level of housing investment.   For example, the National Association of Home Builders uses a proprietary model to estimate the impact of building 100 new low-income housing tax credit developments for families.   The model predicts that the investment will, on average, lead to the creation of 80 new jobs from the direct and indirect effects of construction and 42 jobs supported by the induced effects of increased spending.   In the long-term, building these units also leads to 30 new jobs that support on-going consumer activity of the new residents.   Market-rate apartment housing will create a similar amount of jobs with just a couple of additional jobs (32) supported by households occupying the new homes.   Of course the models are dependent on the productivity of investment within the community and would likely look very different across countries being considered.   It will depend significantly on the amount of skilled labor available for the construction work since 70% of the jobs created as a direct or indirect result of the new construction, are in fact construction jobs. Rural vs. Urban In support of the findings above, in considering the impact of housing development on a rural community’s economy, the Housing Assistance Council states that housing construction and rehabilitation have a high ratio (62.3%) of value-added to gross outlays.   This means that a large percentage of the outlay for housing construction is available to create wages and salaries, and stimulate job growth in rural economies in the U.S.   The document does not compare the ratio for rural communities with that in urban communities.   This is an important distinction since most of the growth in developing countries centers around urban areas.  Ã‚   Quigley (2008) suggests that results on the relationships between investment and economic growth may be dependent on whether that investment is rural or urban.   The author finds that urbanization promotes productivity due to increases in specialization, centralization of knowledge, complementarities in production and economies of scale and scope.   If this is true, an investment in an urban center may produce greater economic growth than that same investment in a rural area.   This will be an important factor in directing housing policy and finance. Housing and Jobs in Emerging Markets In emerging markets there is some data on job creation as well as the previously cited multiplier effects associated with construction.   For example, in Argentina, Freire, Hassler, et. al (2006) estimate that a 1,000,000 peso investment in construction creates some 40 jobs directly and 20 jobs indirectly from services and related industries.   Tipple (1994) cites numerous studies that find multiplier effects from housing investment.   For example, the National Building Organization in India estimates that a $1,000,000 investment in building construction leads to 600 on-site jobs and 1,000 indirect jobs.   The construction process may stimulate economic growth through backward linkages (e.g. processing building materials) and forward linkages during and after the construction process (e.g. restaurants, repair shops and small scale manufacturing).   However, according to Erbas and Nothaft (2002), housing construction in some developing countries is actually quite capital intensive and reliant on imported materials; as a result only a small percentage of the labor force of these developing countries is employed in construction.   In addition to the construction related jobs, Dübel (2007) finds a positive correlation between financial and real estate related services and the housing to GDP ratio.   Specifically, during the property market upturn in Hong Kong in the 1980s and early 1990s, a doubling of the housing market share of GDP led the share of financial, insurance, real estate and business services to triple from 6.5% to 16.3% of GDP.   Other service sectors, including community, social and personal services also grew, likely as a result of indirect inputs to construction activity as well as increased tax revenues.   4. Housing and Its Impact on Poverty The literature on the relationship between housing and poverty is much smaller than that on housing and economic growth.   Hull (2009) notes there are significant data limitations especially on headcount poverty and labor market outcomes.   These data limitations make testing difficult.   There is a particular need for data in sub-Saharan Africa.   Some findings can be noted and they suggest that all housing investment is not created equal when it comes to addressing poverty.   Some of these studies are highlighted here. Gutierrez et al. (2007) find strong evidence that the sectoral pattern of growth and its employment and productivity-intensities matter for poverty reduction. While employment-intensive growth in the secondary sector (manufacturing, construction, mining and utilities) is correlated with poverty reduction, employment-intensive growth in agriculture is correlated with increases in the poverty headcount.   By extension, if housing creates growth in manufacturing, construction, mining and utilities, it may be effective in reducing poverty.   Similarly, Hull (2009) finds the construction sector is relatively productive but not in all countries.   That is, construction reduces measures of poverty in some but not all countries. Erbas and Nothaft (2002) find that low income housing has a lower import component in production and also higher labor intensity.   This implies that construction of low income housing will lead to greater employment and growth than the construction of middle or high income housing.   Construction of low income housing can effectively improve the living standards of the poorer segments of the population in two ways – by creation of jobs and by creation of suitable housing. Tipple (1994) reviews the literature on the links between employment and housing development and shows that investment in shelter is very effective for promoting employment, especially among lower-income groups; some of the benefits to the economy tend to be inversely proportional to housing cost meaning that low cost housing is more beneficial to the economy.   The informal sector and small-scale enterprises tend to outperform the formal sector and larger enterprises. Housing Policy and Poverty in Developing Countries As housing finance policy is considered, the housing programs and policies of local governments must be accounted for in order to assess the potential effectiveness of housing finance in different countries.   For example, Malpezzi and Sa-Aadu (1996) review contemporary African housing markets and policies.   They find that resource allocation in these countries was quite different than their intended objectives.   These policies have discouraged housing investment and have been both inequitable and distortional.   The authors suggest that privatization of housing investment is more efficient and the African governments need to â€Å"disengage.†Ã‚   Taking the example of the U.S., direct government housing production has been less efficient than private sector tax incentives in developing affordable housing [see Erbas and Nothaft (2002)]. Researchers and policymakers have noted that the housing finance systems in some countries have not been effective in reaching the low income segments of the population.   For example, Moss (2004) states that in South Africa the housing finance system has had little impact on the low-income segment of the population.   Specifically, â€Å"attempts to expand credit into this market through micro-loans have been characterized by initiatives that have yet to demonstrate some form of success.†   The financial sector in South Africa consists of many banks, a number of specialized finance companies and a large number of the so-called alternative lenders.   Future studies should investigate which of these alternatives is likely to have success in reaching the lower income segments of the population.   According to Moss (2004), housing finance has also not been very successful in Nigeria where the gap between income and shelter cost is very wide and has basically eliminated the low income earners from the housing market.   Similarly, Rahman (2009) states that the lack of available and accessible housing finance has been identified by the Government of Bangladesh as one of the important hurdles in improving housing conditions for middle- and lower-income households. Although several potential sources of housing finance for mid- and high-income consumers exist, most of the low-income families’ needs are still unmet. Housing Finance in Developing Markets While there are differences in how housing finance occurs across developing countries, there are some similarities and shared concerns.   The degree to which a country’s banks invest in mortgage lending is relatively low in developing countries when compared to developed countries.   For example, Rahman (2009) cites that in Bangladesh, 4% of banking sector assets are in housing.   In many countries there are state funded and/or sponsored housing finance institutions with government guarantees.   However, there may be allocation problems in that loans are allocated based on politics and not on financials and the granting process can be long and inefficient.   There are not as many types of mortgage instruments and in fact many countries are just beginning to grant fixed-rate mortgages which eliminate interest rate risk for the borrower.   The maturity of mortgage loans tends to be shorter in developing countries – 10 years is the maximum term for some mortgag es in Bangladesh.   In addition to state sponsored financial institutions and banks, home finance is offered by micro finance institutions.   In Bangladesh, one such institution offers these loans for a term of 10 years without collateral.   Although there is no collateral, the borrower must obtain title to the land and must sign a pledge to repay and obtain a group pledge to repay the loan if he or she fails to do so.   These programs tend to rely on a borrowers track record, group pressure and mutual support to control credit risk.   Moss (2004) finds similarities in housing finance in South Africa and to a lesser extent, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania.   In most of these countries, anecdotal evidence suggests that the supply of housing finance is much less than the demand and that the institutional structures have not provided sufficient access to housing for the poor. Housing, Financial Deepening and Poverty: One segment of housing finance is the secondary mortgage market and the creation of mortgage instruments or bonds.   While there has not been research on the development of mortgage markets and poverty specifically, the development of those markets can be viewed as part of an overall financial deepening of the capital markets in these developing countries.   Financial deepening has been studied and it may serve as a proxy for the development of secondary mortgage markets to the extent that they occur simultaneously.   At any rate, the development of a secondary mortgage market would be consistent with increasing the breadth and depth of the capital market.   Therefore, a review of the relationship between financial deepening and poverty may tell something about the potential impact of mortgage market development and poverty.   Consistent with this view, Malpezzi (1999) suggests that much of the world is shifting from a housing finance perspective, where special circuits are used to mobilize short-term household deposits for long-term mortgages, to a perspective where housing finance is integrated with broader capital markets. Buckley and Madhusudhan (1984) test a model of the relationship between housing investment and GDP, anticipated inflation, changes in inflation and the extent of capital deepening across several developing and transition countries.   They find that, holding all else constant countries with deeper financial markets invest relatively more in housing.   Singh and Huang (2011) analyze data from sub-Saharan Africa between 1992 and 2006.   They find that financial deepening (as measured in part by credit to the private sector as a percent of GDP) is associated with less poverty and income disparities in SSA countries and that this is most important in early stages of financial development.   Stronger property rights strengthen this relationship.   Finally, Beck, Demirguc-Kunt and Levine (2004) examine a broad cross country sample of 58 developing countries and find that financial development (as measured by the ratio of financial intermediation to the private section to GDP) reduces income inequality by disproportionately raising the incomes of the poor. Impact of Financial Deepening on the Base of the Pyramid and Absolute Poor Singh & Huang (2011) look at different definitions of poverty and examine the impact of financial deepening on them.   The measures of poverty include, the headcount index which measures the percentage of the population living with per capita consumption or income below the poverty line, defined as US$1 a day.   Another measure is the poverty gap which takes into account the distance of the poor from the poverty line.   A third measure is the income of the poorest quintile or average per capita income of the poorest 20 percent of the population.   Using each of these measures of poverty and a sample of SSA countries, the authors find that poverty is inversely related to financial deepening.   The authors also look at the Gini coefficient which is derived from the Lorenz curve.   Larger values of this coefficient indicated greater income inequality.   For this variable the relationship between poverty and financial deepening is insignificant.   In other words, financia l deepening reduces absolute levels of poverty but does not impact income inequality in a significant manner in this sample of SSA countries.   This suggests that various definitions should be examined to gain further insight into the relationship between housing and poverty and to capture the impact on the absolute poor. 5.   Housing Finance and Revenue and Social Consequences Government Revenue Links to Housing Wardrip, Williams and Hauge (2011) itemize revenues from housing development in the U.S.   Some lessons can be learned from this data.   Revenue sources during the construction phase include sales taxes on building materials, corporate taxes on builders’ profits, income taxes on construction workers, and fees for zoning, inspections, and the like.   These estimates presume that the building materials are purchased locally, to the extent the materials are brought in from elsewhere, revenues will of course be lower.   This is something that will impact housing construction in IDA countries.   Revenues in the model depend on local tax structures, construction costs, development fees and whether the local mix of industries is conducive to capturing construction-related activity.   For example, Hangen and Northrup (2010) analyze the effects of developing and rehabilitating 582 affordable homes in Rhode Island in 2007 and 2008 with $25 million in housing bonds.   They estimate that the subsequent income, corporate and sales taxes and fees associated with the total economic activity increased state revenues by roughly $16.7 million during the development period.   In an analysis of a proposed Pennsylvania state housing trust fund, Econsult (2009) finds that for every $1 million in proposed spending, the state stands to gain $82,000 in revenue from the construction of single family homes; these revenues would be higher if the $1 million were spent on affordable multifamily housing. In addition to immediate fiscal benefits, housing construction also provides on-going benefits to the locality.  Ã‚   On-going revenue sources include residential property taxes, property taxes from the businesses supported by the residents, and utility user fees.   A residential development has a net positive fiscal impact only if taxes exceed the cost of providing services to the residents.   The evidence regarding the net effect of affordable housing is inconclusive.   However, there is evidence to suggest that market-rate housing provides net positive fiscal impact (National Association of Home Builders, 2009). Political Stability and Housing There is a presumption that housing improves political stability.   So far, no evidence has been found to indicate that this is true although it is a stylized fact.   Provision of housing is international law.   Sachs (2011) reminds us that it’s a right granted in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights as follows: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care †¦ There may be indirect support to the extent that there has been evidence to indicate that housing improves education and education is believed to improve political stability (see evidence in next section).   The relationship between political stability and housing may go in the other direction.   In other words, political instability can affect the housing market.   According to Tu and Bao (2009), instability may weaken investor’s beliefs in property rights, putting the investors in fear that part of the investment may be lost due to poor protection.   Therefore, investors may pay less for the property rights when facing political uncertainty.   Their study uses 10 years of data from Hong Kong and Singapore where there were differences in political scenarios but similar land lease structures and property cycles.   The empirical evidence supports the idea that political instability lowers property rights premiums. Education and Housing To the extent that housing improves homeowner’s borrowing capacity, housing finance could lead to more investment in human capital.   Since investment in human capital may require an individual to borrow money, and borrowing money is costly, to the extent that housing finance lowers the cost of borrowing, it should lead to larger investments in human capital.   Many authors [starting with Becker (1975) and Atkinson (1975)] studied the link between investment in human capital and wealth distribution.   An implication of these models is that income inequality will decrease as access to finance improves. Some studies have documented a link between housing and education.   To the extent that housing finance improves housing affordability for the poor, housing finance may improve education opportunities for the poor.   Jacoby (1994) finds that lack of access to credit perpetuates poverty in Peru because poor households can’t afford to provide their children with appropriate education.   Jacoby and Skoufias (1997) find that without access to finance, shocks to income cause poor families to discontinue schooling for children.   Housing provides an asset that can be used to smooth shocks to income. If housing indeed improves education opportunities for children of the poor then by extension housing will improve political stability.   Sachs (2011) in explaining why governments should provide education, quotes Adam Smith who said, â€Å"An instructed and intelligent people †¦ are more disposed to examine, and more capable of seeing through, the interested complaints of faction and seditiontherefore, the whole society is at risk when any segment of society is poorly educated.†Ã‚   6. Summary A review of the literature pertaining to housing, economic growth and poverty reveals that much more research is needed in order to determine the true economic benefits of housing and whether housing finance in particular can be an effective tool in eradicating poverty.   The paucity of evidence is due in part to limits in data and the need to utilize robust econometric techniques to test for the direction of the causality in these relationships.   In other words, more research needs to explore whether housing construction leads to economic growth or economic growth leads to increased demand for housing and by extension housing finance.   Although there is little direct documentation that housing finance improves economic standing or living standards of the poor, some inferences can be made from the related literature.   The most promising evidence is found in the financial deepening literature where it has been shown that improvements in financial markets are associated with reducing absolute levels of poverty.   To the extent that financial deepening improves with the development of mortgage markets, then housing finance may also be effective in reducing poverty.   In addition, there appears to be solid evidence that housing construction produces jobs – directly and indirectly through the supporting service industries.   Housing is also shown to improve prospects for education and thus may reduce income inequality.   Evidence indicates that there is no one size fits all relationship between housing, economic growth and poverty.   Although evidence shows that housing investment impacts economic growth, that relationship varies within countries and over time.   While not explored in depth in this review, there are some concerns regarding the impact of housing on economic development and poverty.   For example, due to considerable transactions costs, some suggest that housing may reduce job mobility.   In addition, while housing construction may create construction related jobs, there is a question as to whether that just crowds out investment in other sectors of the economy.   Housing finance while improving access to housing, may also increase opportunities for speculation and may lead to large booms and busts and housing cycles that may negatively impact the economy in the longer run. These and other concerns should be explored further to determine their significance. References Atkinson, A. B., 1974, The Economics of Inequality (Oxford: Clarendon Press). Banerjee, Abhijit and E. Duflo, 2011,   Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, (Public Affairs, New York). Becker, G. S., 1975, Human Capital, NBER and Columbia University Press, New York. Buckley, Robert, 1996, Housing Finance in Developing Countries, (McMillan, London). Buckley, R. and R. Madhusudhan, 1984, The Macroeconomics of Housing’s Role in the Economy: An International Analysis, Presented to the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. Bunnarith, M., 2004, Between Poverty Reduction Strategy and National Housing Policy, National University of Singapore Working Paper. Chen, J. and A. Zhu, 2008, The Relationship Between Housing Investment and Economic Growth in China: A Panel Analysis Using Quarterly Provincial Data, China National Social Science Foundation Working Paper. Dübel, Hans-Joachim, 2007, Does Housing Finance Promote Economic and Social Development in Emerging Markets?, Housing Finance Impact Study for International Finance Corporation. Econsult Corporation, 2009, Potential Economic and Fiscal Impacts of a Pennsylvania Housing Trust Fund, The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania. Erbas, S. and F. Nothaft, 2002, The Role of Affordable Mortgages in Improving Living Standards and Stimulating Growth: A Survey of Selected MENA Countries, IMF Working Paper. Freire, Mila, M. Gautier and O. Hassler, 2006, Review of Argentina’s Housing Sector: Options for Affordable Housing Policy, World Bank Working Paper. Guitierrez, C., et. al., 2007, Does Employment Generation Really Matter for Poverty Reduction?, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4432, World Bank, Washington, DC. Habitat for Humanity, Consequences of Poverty Housing. Hangen, Eric, and J. Northrup, 2010, Building Homes Rhode Island: An Analysis of Economic Impacts, Housing Works RI. Hongyu, Liu, Y. Park and Z. Siqi, 2002, The Interaction between Housing Investment and Economic Growth in China, International Real Estate Review, 5: 1, p. 40 – 60. Housing Assistance Council, 1998, The Effects of Housing Development on a Rural Community’s Economy. Hull, Katy, 2009, Understanding the Relationship Between Economic Growth, Employment and Poverty Reduction, OECD. Jacoby, Hanan, 1994, Borrowing Constraints and Progress through School: Evidence from Peru, Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 76, 151-160. Jacoby, Hanan and E. Skoufias, 1997, Risk, Financial Markets, and Human Capital, Review of Economic Studies, Vol 64, 311-335. Karlan, Dean and J. Appel, 2011, More Than Good Intentions: How a New Economics is Helping to Solve Global Poverty, (Dutton, New York). Leung, C., 2004, Macroeconomics and Housing: A Review of the Literature, Journal of Housing Economics, 13: p. 249-267. Malpezzi, Stephen, 1999, Economic Analysis of Housing Markets in Developing and Transition Economies, Urbanization in Transforming Economies, p. 1791-1864. Malpezzi, Stephen and J. Sa-Aadu, 1996, What Have African Housing Policies Wrought?, Real Estate Economics, Vol. 24:2, p. 133-160. Moss, Vuyisani, 2004, Preview of Housing Finance Systems in Four Different African Countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania, Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa. National Association of Home Builders, 2009, The Local Impact of Home Building in a Typical Metro Area: Income, Jobs and Taxes Generated. Washington, DC. Quigley, John, 2008, Urbanization, Agglomeration and Economic Development, Commission on Growth and Development, Working Paper No. 19. Rahman, Khandaker, 2009, Development of Housing Finance and its Impact on Socio-Economic Uplift in the Emerging Economy in Bangladesh, IFC Bulletin No. 31. Sachs, Jeffrey, 2005, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, (The Penguin Press, New York). Singh, Raju and Y. Huang, 2011, Financial Deepening and Property Rights: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, IMF Working Paper No. 11/196. Tipple, A. Graham, 1994, Employment from Housing: A Resource for Rapidly Growing Urban Populations, Cities 11, No. 6, p. 373. Tu, Y. and H. Bao, 2009, Property Rights and Housing Value: The Impacts of Political Instability, Real Estate Economics, 37:2, p. 235 257. United Nations, 1995, Shelter Provision. Uy, Willie, 2006, Medium-Rise Housing: The Philippine Experience, Presentation Paper for the 5th Asian Forum. Wardrip, Keith, L. Williams and S. Hague, 2011, The Role of Affordable Housing in Creating Jobs and Stimulating Local Economic Development: A Review of the Literature, Center for Housing Policy. Is Prostitution a Victimless Crime? Essay Is Prostitution a Victimless Crime? Essay Prostitution, as described by the Merriam-Websters Dictionary (1997), is the selling of sexual favors for money or the devoting of oneself or ones talent to an unworthy cause (p. 589). In another frame of reference, prostitution has been called a victimless crime. What exactly is a victimless crime? Wests Encyclopedia of American defines it as: crime where there is no apparent victim and no apparent pain or injury. This class of crime usually involves only consenting adults in activities such as prostitution, sodomy, and gambling where the acts are not public, no one is harmed, and no one complains of the activities (2008). This classic definition of these types of crime implies there is not any victim of the criminal behavior who experiences harm. From a theoretical perspective, conflict theorists may hold that victimless crimes are established as a type of social control over morality by politically powerful people or groups who find them offensive or undesirable while functional theorists may hold that social needs, not societal power, are the underlying condition of labeling victimless behaviors as criminal (Greek, C.E., 2005). Why are some consensual acts considered illegal while others are not? McWilliams (1996) asserts consensual activities prohibitions and restrictions have their basis in religion while ODonnell (2000) in addressing the price of victimless crime laws, proposes those crime laws are a form of morality control and religious persecution that uphold the opinions of the law-controlling majority with regards to race, ethnicity and political stances. The issue in victimless crimes is that society has created laws to prohibit certain types of conduct considered to be against the public interest and when supposed victims freely consent to be the victim in one of these crimes; the question is whether the state should make an exception from the law for the situation. For the purpose of this paper, prostitution and the issues of concern in the legalization of this victimless crime is explored. Upon examining prostitution as a victimless crime, it seems evident there are victims at some level but most of the harm seems to be self-inflicted. Looking at the puzzle of the involved behaviors, having sex and asking for money, each by themselves are perfectly legal. Having sex with someone, even an unknown person is legal, and asking for money is legal but, when the two behaviors are linked into one single instance, a criminal act results. The two separate legal behaviors cannot constitute an illegal behavior for if no person is harmed, or if harm occurs by informed consent of the willing parties, how can it be considered a criminal act? One arguable stance presented is that consensual acts are not without risk and when adults consent to take part in the acts, why should the resulting action be deemed criminal by legal social rules? What kinds of problems can the law solve and what kind of problems does the law create? Among the many proponents of de-criminalizing victimless crimes the concept of unconstitutionality is consistently cited (Hardaway, 2000; McWilliams, 1998; ODonnell, 2000; National Platform of the Libertarian Party, 2002). A prominent vocal critic of criminalizing these termed victimless crimes, such as prostitution, is Robert Hardaway. Hardaway is a professor of Law at the University of Denvers School of Law who has written and co-written numerous texts and articles on legal and community interest matters. Hardaways 2003 book, No Price Too High: Victimless Crimes and the Ninth Amendment, as cited by Cox in a 2004 review, presents a powerful and strongly-argued perspective which argues the criminalization of victimless crimes violate the Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution (2004). Cox notes the criminalization of these crimes as well as amount of money it takes to enforce the laws are unsound policies according to Hardaway. Although, in the case of drugs, crime against property and person are related to drug use, Hardaway, per Cox (2004), attributes the harm of drug use to the laws rather than the use of drugs themselves. According to Cox, Hardaway uses the example of Prohibition to explain the supply and demand concept of the argument stating: crime and violence do not emanate from some physiological effect of the drug, but the drug laws themselves and with the decriminalization of drugs, neighborhood drug dealers would be put out of business effectively breaking the business-end of organized crime (105). Hardaway further posits, according to Cox, legalizing personal vices is justified by a considered weighing of the costs and consequences of criminalization (30), (2004). ProCon.org has a website which addresses the issue of whether or not prostitution should be legalized and many statements were provided on this website of both the pro and con sides of the issue: No persons human or civil rights should be violated on the basis of their trade, occupation, work, calling, or profession [Prostitution Education Network, 1996]; prostitution violates the right to physical and moral integrityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦violates the prohibition of torture and of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.. [Hoffman, C., 1997]; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦prostitution laws areà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a violation of the right of individual privacy because they impose penal sanctions for the private sexual conduct of consenting adultsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [American Civil Liberties Union, 2007]; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦few activities are as brutal and damaging to people as prostitutionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [U.S. Department of State, 2004] (ProCon, 2009). Of all opposition members, the most prominent is Melissa Farley, a research and clinical psychologist at the San Francisco non-profit organization, Prostitution Research and Education. Farley has written numerous peer-reviewed articles on the subject (Farley, M., 2006). Farleys numerous research articles provide a well-rounded look at the subject matter of prostitution, the sex industry, exploitation of women, as well as the myriad of troubling issues arising from when men purchase women in prostitution. In the 2006 article, Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia: What We Must Not Know in Order to Keep the Business of Sexual Exploitation Running Smoothly, Farley posits prostitution is sexual violence that results in massive economic profit for some of its perpetrators and is a much like slavery in that it is a lucrative form of oppression (p. 102). Farley goes further to remark on prostitutions legal status (legal, illegal, zoned, or decriminalized) or the location of the ac tivity (strip club, massage parlor, street, and escort/home/hotel) the danger to women is still tremendous (p. 103). Farleys discussion on the peer-reviewed literature which documents the violence so prevalent in prostitution and states: Violence is commonplace in prostitution whether it is legal or illegal (p. 106). Citing a Canadian commission on prostitution and pornography which reported the death rate of women in prostitution as forty times higher than that of the general population and a 2001 Vancouver prostitution research study by Cler-Cunningham and Christensen which reported a thirty-six percent incident of attempted murder, Farley contends prostitution can be lethal (p. 107). Farleys detailed look at legalized and illegal prostitution can impact the perception of the sex industry as a whole. However, within the United States Constitutions first ten amendments, also known as the Bill of Rights, are provisions which may present a strong argument for abolishing criminalizing prostitution and other victimless crimes. The First, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments are of particular interest in this dialogue of supporting the decriminalization of prostitution. Although victimless crimes such as prostitution are not specifically addressed in the Constitution there seems to be an arguable position that victimless crime laws violate First Amendment restrictions against laws respecting an establishment of religion especially since religious and moral values seem to provide the foundation for many of the laws. The Fourth Amendments provisions on search and seizure seems to be violated by such devices as warrantless search and seizures which are often utilized to obtain evidence for prosecutorial purposes. The privacy of innocents can be threatened as enforcement of the law requires police and investigators to engage in extensive monitoring, wiretapping, and surveillance of suspects and the public. Some people believe that these warrantless search and seizures and victimless crime laws are a means of political power over selected portions of the population which are unequally enforced against the poor and minorities thereby violating the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment (Kruttscnitt, 1984; McWilliams, 1998; Nussbaum, OConnell, 2000; 1999; Schur, 1971, 1980, 1983). The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution has direct bearing on such modern day constitutional issues such as abortion, gay rights, and the right to die. Farber (2007) considers the Ninth Amendment the key to understanding the liberties Americans were to enjoy under the Constitution as envisioned by the Founding Fathers describes the purpose of the Ninth Amendment and the Founders intent: to protect the rights the Founders assumed but failed to enumerate or specify in the Bill of Rights. Like the rest of the original Bill of Rights, per Farber, the Ninth Amendment only limits federal power rather than state government powers. The Fourteenth Amendment came along later and addressed the state government and within that Amendment the Privileges or Immunities Clause is paired with the Ninth Amendment (Lash, 2004; Farber, 2007). America is in first place in the world for the number of incarcerated individuals as highlighted by a Pew Center report that found 1 in every 100 American adults are behind bars with its prison population having tripled in the last 20 years. Spending on prisons has more than quadrupled and the American taxpayers are slowly crushed by this wasteful spending. At an average cost of over $19,000 per prisoner, taxpayers are facing a bill of over $44 billion per year to keep people locked away (Pew, 2004). Coinciding with this rising prison population is the increase in the number of private prisons which increased from five in 1995 to 100 in 2005. Herivel and Wright ( ) in their book Prison Profiteers-Who Makes Money From Mass Incarceration reports private prison industry has seen increased profits and lobbied extensively for more frequent and longer prison sentences and traces the flow of monies designated for the public good and ends up in the pockets of enterprises dedicated to keeping prison cells filled (From their book jacket). History has shown that criminalizing victimless crimes will drive the practice underground where violence, extortion, and coercion are most likely to thrive. This was particularly noticed when the 18th Amendment and later the Volstead Act, 1919, which made it illegal to manufacture or sell beer, wine, or other intoxicating malt or vinous liquors it was not illegal to possess it for personal use. The prohibition, originally intended to reduce beer consumption in particular, actually a failure and ended up increasing hard liquor consumption and created a new business, bootlegging, defined as the unlawful manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages without registration or payment of taxes which became widespread and a staple of organized crime (Prohibition). Almost every individual has the ability and moral capacity to judge what is helpful or harmful to them and it does not make sense for other people to dictate what choices should be made. When individuals commit acts harmful to themselves, the action should be termed as immoral, not illegal. The criminalization for the act of prostitution should not be determined by social effects of an individuals actions or by the moral or religious views of society. Every person needs freedom to make choices and accept the consequences for without these consequences, growth and experiential development will be hindered. If an adult man-or an adult woman, wants to engage in sexual relations with another adult man or woman who charges a fee for his or her services, they should be able to do so without the fear of being guilty of a crime. It does not mean that prostitution should not be subjected to certain legal requirements such as health laws. Removing prostitution from criminal statutes and providing a designation as a business entity subjected to business requirements, prostitution can be taxed, sex workers can obtain health and safety rights other employees have, and problems of abuse and graft associated with police jurisdiction of such a business can be dealt with more effectively with better protection from violence and abuse for those individuals who work within the industry. In a 2001 article written for the New Zealand Herald, Sue Bradford, MA, Member of New Zealands Parliament says it best: prostitution has been a career option for some people since history began. Nothing any law has done has changed or will change thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I believe we would all be better off to accept the job choice that some adults make as valid and worthy of care and compassion for all our sakes (2001). Work Cited Bradford, S. (2001). Dialogue: Sex workers deserve protection of the law. New Zealand Herald. July 30, 2001. Cox, G.C., (2004). Book review of Hardaway, R. (2003). No price too high: Victimless crimes and the Ninth Amendment. Department of Political Science, University of North Texas. Farber, D.A. (2007). Retained by the people: The silent Ninth Amendment and the Constitutional rights Americans dont know they have. Perseus Books. Fyffe, C. and Hardaway, R.M. (2003). No price too high: Victimless crimes and the Ninth Amendment. Westport, CN: Praeger. Greek, C.E., (2005). Criminological theory. Lecture notes. CCJ 5606. http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/ Hayes-Smith, R. and Shekarkhar, Z. (2010). Why is prostitution criminalized? An alternative viewpoint on the construction of sex work. Contemporary Justice Review, March 2010, Volume 13 Issue 1, p. 43-55. Herivel, T. and Wright, P. (2007). Prison profiteers: Who makes money from mass incarceration? New York: New Press Kruttschnitt, C. (1984). Labeling women deviant: Gender stigma and social control. Contemporary Sociology. 13 (5), 596. Lash, K.T. (2004). The lost original meaning of the Ninth Amendment. Texas Law Review, Volume 83, Number 2, December 2004 McWilliams, P. (1998). Aint nobodys business if you do: The absurdity of consensual crimes in a free society. Los Angeles, CA: Prelude Press. http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/aint/201.htm Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1997). Springfield, MASS: Merriam-Webster, Inc. National Platform of the Libertarian Party, 2002. (Adopted at the July 2002 convention in Indianapolis, Indiana) Nussbaum, M. C. (1999). Sex social justice. New York: Oxford University Press ODonnell, T. (2000). American holocaust: The price of victimless crime laws. Writers Digest. Iuniverse.com ProCon, 2009. Prostitution Education Network, 1996; Hoffman, C., 1997; American Civil Liberties Union, 2007; U.S. Department of State, 2004. http://prostitution.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=1315print=true Prohibition. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1085.html Schur, E. (1971). Labeling deviant behavior. New York: Harper and Row. (1980). The politics of deviance. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. (1983). Labeling women deviant: gender, stigma, and social control. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Wests Encyclopedia of American Law, Edition 2 (2008). The Gale Group, Inc.