Russian Economy in the Late 1990s Essay Example for Free

Russian Economy in the Late 1990s Essay The process of economic transformation in Russia has been marked by a prolonged transitional depression and macroeconomic instability: seven years of continuing decline resulted in a cumulative drop of GDP by more than 40% between 1989 and 1996; in that period there were also several outbursts of near- hyperinflation. The first radical effort to tackle inflation was the IMF-supported stabilization program of 1995. It focused on tight monetary control and nominal exchange rate targets; subsequently, direct central bank financing of the budget was discontinued and the exchange rate was placed under control. In the years that followed, Russia made marked progress towards price and exchange rate stability and this prompted positive expectations in the West and a widespread perception that the country was pursuing the right course of reforms. It is important to point out that the 1995 stabilization effort was not supported by deep structural and institutional reforms. Russia inherited from the past an over-industrialized economy, dominated by highly inefficient heavy industry (including the military-industrial complex). The liberalization of prices and the discontinuation of subsidies resulted de facto in the destruction of a large share of the existing capital stock. Restructuring these industries is a serious policy task: simply closing down the large number of inefficient enterprises would not be socially and politically tolerable, but unfortunately that was the way of Russian development during 1990s. In these circumstances the Russian authorities started speedy, give-away mass privatization program which was carried out during 1992-1994. However, this resulted in most cases in the concentration of effective property rights in the hands of insiders (company managers) who had neither the willing nor the capital to perform the necessary deep restructuring of the enterprises. The newly emerging system of private ownership was not conducive to effective corporate governance and was in fact another obstacle to the process of enterprise restructuring. Moreover, the loopholes in law system seem to have incited a continued stripping of the assets of the privatized enterprises rather than their market-oriented restructuring. Thus, the progress in institutional and legislative reforms in Russia in the 1990s has been modest and the emerging market infrastructure in the country is extremely poor. This is especially so in the areas of commercial and corporate law. The execution of agreements most often relies on the goodwill of the parties, while contract enforcement is often impossible by legal means. Very little was done to reform the functioning of Russian public administration whose lack of transparency is well known. It gave birth to widespread rent seeking which resulted in the de facto concentration of wealth in a relatively small group of oligarchs. This distorted socio-political environment, and the presence of a mistakes in public administration has created a vicious circle which is a major obstacle to reforms and to social justice. One frequent characteristic of the Russian nouveaux-riches is that the wealth of numerous members of the new class was not acquired as a result of entrepreneurial success; it was simply easy money, obtained in some cases from illegal or semi-legal activity. Huge amounts of capital left Russia and were spent on luxury goods or just placed in safe havens instead of being put to productive use within the country. The unprecedentedly rapid stratification of society and the lack of social justice eroded initial public support for the reforms and strengthened the opposition to the reform process. It was in this economic and institutional environment that the Russian government launched the 1995 stabilization program. The climate for productive investment in Russia remained hostile, mostly due to the negative impact of this environment. The persistent lack of investor confidence leaded to further decapitalization of the economy. In real terms, gross fixed investment in 1997 was a quarter of its 1991 level. The prolonged financial pressure on manufactories provoked a credit crunch and the emergence of various monetary surrogates (acting as an alternative to money) and widespread barter (closely related to the diffusion of loss-making activity) which eroded further the tax base. Wage arrears kept mounting not only in the public domain but also in the corporate sector: in 1996 the arrears were, on average, for about 85% of total wage. The escalation of this situation was in May 1998, when doctors, workers and coal miners went on a massive strike over unpaid wages, blocking the Trans-Siberian Railway. After a short recovery in 1997, the economic situation started to getting worse in early 1998. Russia depends heavily on exports of energy resources and other primary commodities which make up 80% of merchandise exports, and the weakening of global demand and the unprecedented fall in their prices in the aftermath of the Asian crisis had a significant negative impact on its economy. There was a sharp fall in export earnings (about 12% in the first half of 1998) and this had a major impact on Russias external and fiscal balances. The fiscal problem There is wide agreement that the Russian fiscal crisis is itself just the expression of the overall crisis of the Russian transformation. Fundamental institutional reform of both taxation and expenditure has been repeatedly set back by political conflicts, such as constitutional crisis in 1993 and the problem of regional separatism. For the first half of 1998, the consolidated budget deficit (federal, regional and local) stood at 4. % of GDP, according to the lowest official figures. The overall position was considerably worse than this, particularly because the major extra-budgetary fund, the Pension Fund, had also a large deficit. These figures must also be seen in the context of wage arrears throughout all sectors of the economy. In the first quarter of 1998 debt service was fully one-third of federal spending. This visible strain was in itself another factor that destibilized confidence in the ability of the government to correct the situation. The growing burden of interest payments was built into the measures taken in 1995: while Russian official figures continue to record the 1995 budget deficit at 3. 0% of GDP, interest payments on the growing stock of GKO (Government Short-Term Commitments) were actually adding nearly the same amount to the financing needs in that year. The first issues of GKOs were available only to residents, and offered very high interest rates. In 1996, and in part as a result of International Monetary Fund insistence, the market was opened to non-residents. This did eventually succeed in lowering the interest rates, but it also clearly meant that the dangerous accumulation of debt could be continued. Until the first major crisis of confidence, this is what, in fact, occurred in 1998. The financial crisis of summer 1998 As part of the efforts to achieve macroeconomic stabilization, the federal government had made increasing use of Government Short-Term Commitments. But the situation remained dangerous: of the government deficit as much as 50% was due to interest payments. As Russias current account deteriorated from a position of surplus in 1997 to a deficit forecast at 1. 5-2% of GDP for 1998 as a whole, the rouble came under pressure and monetary policy was tightened with the result that the interest rates on GKOs reached levels of more than 100%. The consequent decline in the value of government securities led to calls by the foreign creditors of Russian banks for addition a repo loans. Thus, russian banks came under pressure to raise additional funds at just the time when the central bank was draining liquidity from the market as part of its attempt to defend the exchange rate. Due to the falls in the value of government securities, banks efforts to borrow were transferred to the interbank market that eventually couldnt function. These difficulties signaled the liquidity squeeze on Russian banks to international lenders, and increased their fears of becoming a bankrupt. At the same time the government faced increasing difficulties over borrowing to meet the interest obligations on its debt. The package of international loans from the IMF, the World Bank and Japan arranged in July was to provide Russia with funding of $17 billion during the 1998 and 1999. However, the attempt to defend the exchange rate which followed, was eventually abandoned, and a wider band for the rouble/dollar exchange rate was introduced in the third week in August that leaded to a rouble depreciation of more than 25%. On 2 September 1998 the Central Bank of the Russian Federation decided to abandon the floating peg policy and float the ruble freely. By 21 September 1998 the exchange rate had reached 21 rubles for one US dollar, meaning it had lost two thirds of its value of less than a month earlier. The moratorium on government debt caused large losses to foreign banks. For Russian banks the losses associated with the crisis are estimated at 40% of their assets. Despite the small scale of international exposure to Russia, the emergency measures taken by its government were accompanied by significant declines in prices in international financial markets and important downward revisions in forecast of capital inflows to developing and transition economies. Recovery Russia bounced back from the August 1998 financial crash with surprising speed. Much of the reason for the recovery is that world oil prices rapidly rose during 1999–2000 (just as falling energy prices helped to deepen Russias troubles), so that Russia ran a large trade surplus in 1999 and 2000. Another reason is that domestic industries, such as food producing, had benefited from the devaluation, which caused a steep increase in the prices of imported goods. Also, since Russias economy was operating to such a large extent on other non-monetary instruments of exchange, the financial collapse had far less of an impact on many producers. Finally, the economy had been helped by an infusion of cash. As enterprises were able to pay all debts on wages, consumer demand for goods and services produced by the Russian industry began to rise. For the first time in many years, in 2000 unemployment fell as enterprises added workers. Since the 1998 crisis, the Russian government has managed to keep social and political pressures under control, and this has played a essential role in recovery during the early 2000s.

breastfeed or bottle-feed? Essay -- essays research papers

Is the mom going to breastfeed or bottle-feed? I must tell you that breast milk is usually best for your baby. -Each mother’s breast milk is made especially for their own newborn. It contains all the Vit., Min. & iron that your baby needs( where as bottle milk has as little as 5-10% of all vit., min., & iron that are used by your baby.) Breast milk also continues to chg. as your baby grows to meet the changing needs of your infant, no formula is capable of such a chg. Breast milk contains protecting agents to help insure your baby’s health, these agents (WBC’s and immunoglobins) help fight DZ and INF. Advantages of Breastfeeding (Disadvantages to bottle feeding): 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  promotes bonding between mom and infant, easily and quickly digested. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breastfed babies have fewer illnesses and faster recovery. The antibodies found in breast milk provide immunities that make it easier for a baby to fend off illnesses such as colds and ear infections. So not only do breastfed babies tend to get sick less often but when they do get sick, they get better faster then babies that are bottle fed. Pre-mature babies who get breast milk also have less GI problems 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breast milk has long term health benefits for your baby. The positive effects of breastfeeding last well beyond babyhood. Studies show that babies breastfed for the first six months are 43% less likely to become obese as children, if breastfed for more then 1 year they are 72% less likely to be overweight. Breastfeed babies have a lower risk of HTN later in life, they also have a lower risk of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea later in life. Breastfeed babies also have an average of 8 to 10 IQ points higher then bottle-fed babies. Finally breastfed babies have a lower incidence of SID’s 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breastfeeding helps to take the pounds off after pregnancy. Producing breast milk requires 500 calories a day 5)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breastfeeding also helps benefit mom’s health. Some studies indicate that breastfeeding decreases or lowers a woman’s risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer. It also appears to protect against osteoporosis. 6)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breast milk is inexpensive as opposed to bottle feeding which tends to run around $1400 to $1800 a year. 7)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  &n... ...oiling, soaking in antibacterial solution (instructions are on the packet), or microwave bottle sterilizer. Store sterilized bottles in the refrigerator. Prepare the formula and shake thoroughly. Warm to room temp then give to baby 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Feeding the baby – Cuddles and comfort are as important for your baby as feeding is, bottle fed baby’s can bond too. Cradling your baby in your arms is the best position. Never feed the baby while he or she is laying down! Problems while Breastfeeding: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sore nipples (usually during the first week) Check the latch on technique and position of the baby during feedings. You want to vary nursing positions. You can also use OTC lubricants or express a little milk or colostrum onto your nipples before and after nursing, gently pat dry (antibacterial qualities) In most cases sore or cracked nipples are no longer painful once good positioning and latch on are achieved. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breast engorgement usually occurs in 2-3 days but is usually temporary and last only 3-7 days. For treatment and prevention wear a comfortable bra to support your breasts (no under wire at this time)

Poor Academic Performance in Mathematics

The study sought to determine the effects of Math Enrichment Approach and Math Trail Activity Approach as interventions to solve the respondents’ poor academic performance in Mathematics IV as a result of the following causes: negative attitudes towards mathematics, parents’ socio-economic status and difficulty of the subject.The study further sought to compare the respondents’ pre-test as affected by their negative attitudes towards mathematics and post-test as influenced by the interventions.The study adapted the studies of Beaton & Dwyer (2002), Kellaghan&Madaus (2002) on the causes of poor academic performance in mathematics. The instruments used were the teacher-made pre-test and post-test, Aiken (1994) Mathematics Attitudes, Survey Questionnaire for the Respondents and the Socio-Economic Status Indicators by Liberatos et. al. (1998) & Simich & Dugeon & Weinstein-shr (2005).This action research has a statistical treatment of mean, standard deviation and T â €“ Test for the significant difference.  Results revealed that the major cause of the respondents’ poor academic performance in Mathematics 1V was their negative attitudes towards mathematics. This was confirmed by Broussard & Garrison (2004) on his study.Math enrichment and Math trail approaches were effective interventions to poor academic performance in Mathematics IV.Introduction Mathematics is a changing body of knowledge rather than a set of rules to be  learned and practice. Learning mathematics is an active process where a student’s gathers, discovers or creates knowledge through a purposeful activity. An integral part of this learning process is the use of concrete models and manipulative to learn concepts. (NCTM, 2008.)Felipe (1990) as cited by Foronda (1995) said that every person must have corresponding growth in desirable degrees and types of mathematical concepts in order to orient himself satisfactorily during the changing times.Performance in ma thematics offers a valuable lens for analyzing the quality of the mathematics teaching and learning experiences. Rodd (2003.)  Poor academic performance results in the child having a negative attitudes and less motivated.(Karande & Kulkarni 2005.) Identification of the causes of poor academic performance in mathematics and execution of the interventions must beproperlyaddressed so that the respondents can perform up to their full potential prior to their entrance to tertiary level.In Gingoog City Comprehensive National High School (GCCNHS) poor academic performance in Mathematics was noticed by the researcher. In National Achievement Test (NAT) conducted recently,Mathematics mean scores were the lowest among other areas. Hence this study sought to find the causes of this problem.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz and Mao Zedong - 1832 Words

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz and Mao Zedong Fidel Castro and Mao Zedong. Two men who shaped their respective countries into what they are today. One an enemy of the west and the other close to approaching a friend. Without these two men the political landscape of the world might be extremely different than what it is today. Castro almost inciting nuclear war between 2 superpowers and Mao putting his country on track to have an economy the rivals even the US. Castro who brought his country close to Russia while Mao pulled away from them. Both brought radical change to their countries; both used propaganda to a heavy extent. They both believed that communism was the way forward and thought that their party was the only way forward for their country. Though they did some good a lot of bad can be seen with them as well. Mao is considered responsible for between 40 million and 70 million deaths in just 4 years(CITE) making him responsible for more deaths than almost all of the other dictato rs of the world combined. While Castro is considered the reason his country is in shambles and only just starting to recover today. Both started revolutions that tore their country apart. But to see just how similar yet different these men are we have to look into their lives more closely than statistics and facts. We have to see how they got their power and what they did with it when they did. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born in Birà ¡n Cuba on August 13th 1926. After being baptized at age 8