Wednesday, July 31, 2019

How Is Curley’s Wife Presented †Victim or Villain? Essay

Curley’s wife is the only women at the ranch in Of Mice and Men. She is generally portrayed as a young, lonely, bored and childish girl. â€Å"Baloney!† is her ‘word.’ This single word shows that she thinks she is a movie star. No one really talks like this. All the way through the book, it is evident this is how she sees her life; unreal, like a movie and dramatic. Curley’s wife is talked about before she is seen in the book. The first actual mention of her is ‘wife.’ Already it has been established that she has no name, she is just Curley’s wife. The men see her as a women, not as a real person. The swamper gives his opinion straight away on her. He immediately agrees that she is ‘purty’ but has ‘got the eye.’ This shows that the men see her as just a pretty girl, who means nothing. The fact that they mention she has the eye gives the impression that the men have been watching her, and are curious about her, as they have noticed this. This also shows that the men see her as provocative, and the swamper gets this impression over to George straight away, so all the book he treats her in a biased way, because of what was said then. He then describes her as ‘†¦a tart.’ This is very discriminatory and shows what most of the men think about her. They do not understand her, so she must be a tart! The swamper also invited George to ‘look her over.’ They are treating her like a possession, not a human being. Curley’s wife’s first appearance happens soon after George and Lennie hear about her. She stands in the doorway ‘looking in.’ This puts her immediately in place as the outsider, always looking in, never part of the action. She is described as ‘heavily made up’ and this tells you a lot about her. There is no reason to be heavily made up on a ranch, so she must have to much time on her hands. The fact she is wearing so much makeup tells us that Curley’s wife is bored. Also her hair is in ‘little rolled clusters,’ something which takes an extreme amount of time, pointing further to the fact that she is bored. Her ‘cotton house dress’ and ‘red mules’ are completely inappropriate dress for a ranch, and are actually quite expensive, film star clothes, giving us the impression that she thinks a lot about herself. When she speaks, it is evident she is socially awkward, as she doesn’t introduce herself or even say hello, just states that she is ‘lookin’ for Curley.’ Her voice is ‘nasal, brittle,’ which is not sexy, even though this is how she portrays herself through her makeup and clothes. When George answers her,  she doesn’t leave, but asks â€Å"Your the new fellas†¦ aint you?† This shows that she wasn’t actually looking for Curley, she is just trying to start up a convocation and doesn’t really know how to do it, further pointing at the fact she is socially awkward. Also she moves so her body is ‘thrown forward,’ trying to show off her best assets to the new guys, so she thinks a lot about herself and is a massive flirt! However, this idea as changes when she ‘bridles’ under Lennie’s eyes. This shows that she doesn’t actually like being looked at, and is uncomfortable with men looking at her. Therefore, surely this points to the fact that she isn’t a tart! When she offers to go somewhere else, she says it ‘playfully’ as if she is wishing the men will ask her to stay, as she wants the company and again is flirting. Throughout this, George has hinted that he wants her to go away four times, but she is either ignorant and has not got the message or is just plain lonely and doesn’t care if they want his company or not. Her next sentence, ‘Nobody can’t blame a person for lookin’ is very staged. Again, this wording is only used in the movies and her line sounds fake and practised. It is almost like she is play acting, and unreal. When Slim arrives, and tells her straight that she can’t be looking very hard she turns ‘apprehensive’ and ‘hurries away.’ This shows that she is actually quite scared that the Slim knows what she is up too, and also that she is quite scared of Curley. Her first appearance confirms the stereotypes that were placed on her before we met her. However, these stereotypes do not hold up through the book. Her second appearance is in Crooks’ barn. She straight away gives her usual excuse for being around the men ‘any of you boys seen Curley?’ It is obvious that she again is not really looking for Curley, just wants the company. Also the word boys shows that she doesn’t really considers Crooks Candy and Lennie men, as they both have what she considered bad quality’s therefore they are not rea l men. She again is ‘heavily made up,’ which shows that she is bored and has too much time on her hands. She calls Crooks, Candy and Lennie the ‘weak ones,’ even though Lennie is obviously far from weak. She identifies them as weak because they are the unpopular ones, she knows how to hurt them, but is only doing this as she is angry at being left behind herself. By saying this she is also identifying herself as weak, this is why she really said ‘they left the weak ones behind,’ she is including herself in that. Also by saying she  knows where Curley is, â€Å"I know where they all went,† she is admitting that she is not in Crooks’ room to look for him and that she is just craving company. She regards them ‘amusedly’ showing that she has no respect for these ‘weak’ men, before giving her view on mankind. When Crooks mentioned her husband, she really lets off what she feels for him, â€Å"Swell guy, ain’t he?† She brings up Curley’s hand, as she wants the gossip, as when she asks her face is ‘interested.’ When she doesn’t believe his answer she says her favourite word, â€Å"Baloney!† This, as I said above, is a childish and movie star attitude, showing that she thinks she is living in a fairy tale. Next, she shows us how much contempt she fe els for her life, â€Å"An’ what am I doin’?† She knows that she regrets marrying Curley and feels her life is going nowhere. She then decided the only way to interest is to insult, and called the men ‘nigger,’ ‘dum dum’ and ‘lousy old sheep.’ She is taking out her anger at her man being in the cat house and her life going down the toilet and the men, who can’t do anything about her. She doesn’t even care when Candy tells her where to go, just replies in her film star way with â€Å"Baloney† showing she doesn’t care a jot! She barely flinches when Candy insults her, and turns her attentions to Lennie, where Lennie makes a fatal slip up. The way she just turns her attention to Lennie shows that she is actually hurt by what Candy has said, but is trying to hide it. She is quite sensible with Lennie, but flips her anger on Crooks and threatens to get him ‘strung up on a tree.’ The fact that she needs to throw her anger on to someone shows how reckless she is, and completely not in control of her own emotions. When Lennie threatens to tell she says that â€Å"Nobody’d listen to you.† She knows the men’s weak points and are using their weakness to keep herself safe, a bad quality in a person showing she is selfish. She leaves when Crooks says the guys are back, further showing how scared she is of Curley’s wrath. Her final appearance is in the barn with Lennie, the place where she dies. She came into the barn very ‘quietly,’ showing she is sly and sneaky. She is yet again ‘heavily made-up’ wearing the ‘cotton dress’ with the ‘mules.’ Again, this is completely unsuitable for the ranch and shows she has too much time on her hands and she thinks she lives in a movie, where she always has to be made up. She was ‘quite near’ to Lennie, showing she has no recognition for personal space and is awkward with people. She calls him â€Å"sonny boy† which is again only a thing a movie star  would say, and is very patronising towards Lennie. From this you can tell that she really is selfish, and doesn’t realise how much her words can hurt people. She ‘laughed’ when Lennie refused to talk to her, she is either ignorant, completely stupid, or doesn’t care if Lennie wants her there or not! When he refused again she knelt ‘beside him;’ she will not take no for an answer! She uses emotional blackmail on Lennie, as she says she gets ‘awful lonely,’ which shows she is very crafty and actually cleverer then she is made out to be, though she doesn’t use her intelligence for positive things. When she sees the puppy; â€Å"Why, he’s dead!† we see that she is chocked, and wary of Lennie now. This also shows us that she has got a heart! When she starts telling her story, neither of the two listen to each other. She doesn’t seem to care though, and refuses to see that Lennie isn’t interested. We find out the reason for her movie star addiction, and see her naivety as she actually thinks the man wrote to her; â€Å"I never got that letter†¦I always thought my ol’ lady stole it. We find out she married out of spite; â€Å"So I married Curley.† This explains her constant flirting with men, she does not love Curley in any way. She is very materialistic as she wants â€Å"them nice clothes like they [movie stars] wear† instead of the actual fame. This shows she doesn’t really understand what being famous is and thinks it’s all about nice clothes. When she realises Lennie isn’t listening she turns ‘angrily’ on him. She thinks her story is amazing, and that she really could be famous, and that everyone should think her life is the most interesting thing in the world. She actually ‘moved away from him a little’ when he moves close to her, giving us another view of her, that she is not a tart, and doesn’t actually like men being close to her! Overall, she dies because of her vanity. She invites Lennie to ‘feel’ her hair. She dies of her own stupidity, as she is too scared to shut up. She dies because she is too naive, to trusting, and much too vain. ‘Let go, you let go!’ Steinbeck portrays her as a girl throughout the entire book. Everytime he mentions her he calls her a ‘girl’ giving us a contrast between the sexy arrogant woman and the young naive girl. Much of how he sees her is portrayed in death. He says that all the ‘meanness,’ ‘plannings,’ ‘discontent,’ and ache for attention,’ are all gone. This shows us that all of her bad quality’s have been made by life, life has made her bitter. He says that her ‘rouged cheeks’ and ‘reddened lips’ made her ‘alive’ in away.  This gives the impression that she is innocent in death, that she is almost a sleeping beauty, and that she is now at peace with herself. In death, she is the poster girl she always wanted to be, and this is how Steinbeck sees her. I think he sees her as a victim, as in death we see a poor innocent girl, not a heartless selfish women. I personally think Curley’s wife is a victim in Of Mice And Men. Life has been hard for her, she has been overcome with pride, pity, lies, stupidity and vanity. She actually died because of her own stupidity, and her death was partly her fault. I feel that her victim qualities outweigh her villain qualities. Yes she always found others to blame, found the bad in people, and criticised everyone in sight. She was lonely, and her mistakes in life backfired on her. I think that the part of the book that shows us she was a victim was not where she was murdered, but actually, was before we even met her, when the boys were talking about her in the barn. When George and Lennie immediately believe what Candy says and immediately stereotype her. The sentence which most classes Curley’s wife as a victim were the words â€Å"I think Curley’s married†¦ a tart.†

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

The Root Of All Evil, Macbeth

G. R. Elliot once said, â€Å"wicked intention must in the end produce wicked action unless it is not merely revoked by the protagonist’s better feelings, but entirely eradicated by his inmost will, aided by Divine grace. † This statement can be directly applied to Macbeth’s descent into the darker recesses of human nature and what human weaknesses this classical tragic figure struggles with and finally succumbs to, causing his downfall. In William Shakespeare’s famous play, Macbeth is drawn to the murder of King Duncan, Banquo, and Fleance by his yearning for power. How could such a ourageous, gentle man such as Macbeth suddenly be transformed and drawn to do such evil? Surely he did not come up with such villainous thoughts of his own. His desire for control, authority, and jurisdiction was strengthened by evil sources, those from both the witches’ prophecies and his wife’s encouragement. In Macbeth it is very clear that evil begets evil. Shakespeare focuses on Macbeth’s courage early in the play. For example, Duncan and the sergeant both compliment Macbeth’s mental and physical bravery in Act I, Scene II. Macbeth â€Å"carv’d out his passage† until he and the enemy eneral were face to face. In the same act, the reader is told that Macbeth is brave because of his â€Å"disdaining Fortune. † In addition to his quality of courage, Macbeth is also a gentle man. Demonstrating his love and devotion for his wife, Macbeth refers to her as â€Å"his dearest partner of greatness† in Act I, Scene V. Lady Macbeth views his kindness as somewhat of a problem for their quest for power. She says that Macbeth is â€Å"too full o’ the milk of human kindness† to place them on the throne of Scotland as a result of murder. Macbeth realizes that Duncan is, n fact, a good and humble king, and other than to fulfill self-centered, uncontrolled ambitions, this is not reason to murder him. Macbeth is soon pressured into the murder of Duncan by both his wife and the three witches. The three witches are supernatural instruments of fate who predicted that Macbeth will become King of Scotland. In act I, scene III, the witches chant, â€Å"All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! / All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter! When Macbeth hears this prophecy, many questions nstantly begin to run through his head. He begins to wonder, what are they talking about and how will I become king? Macbeth does not entirely trust the witches, for he does identify them with evil. The foretelling of the witches spark the plot of the murder. The spark becomes a flame when Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy. Lady Macbeth is canny and masterful as she propels Macbeth to kill Duncan. She binds Macbeth’s attention to the throne of Scotland, but never to the severity of the crime. Lady Macbeth is clever when she constantly urges Macbeth to forget about his torments and the brutal death he has aused. Before the actual murder, Macbeth is shrouded with fear. Banquo can also see the fear in Macbeth, although he does not know about the plan of murder when he asks, â€Å"Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear/ Things that do sound so fair? † He ponders what would happen if he fails, and discusses this possibility with his wife. He struggles with fear in the presence of Lady Macbeth but she constantly reassures him that there is nothing to fear and that the murder will be for the better. This fear demonstrates that Macbeth does realize the difference between right and rong, good and evil, and the consequences, but the outcome, which is murder, proves he can be swayed in his beliefs and concerns. Macbeth was pressured to do a horrible deed which was driven by evil. The beginning of the evil was rooted in his wife and the witch’s but quickly spread into his mind and heart. Macbeth was soon contaminated by evil, although he realized what he had done was wrong. Macbeth says, â€Å"To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself,† meaning that committing such a vile act makes him uncomfortable. Evil drives Macbeth to later kill Banquo and Fleance for fear they know hat Macbeth was the murderer. One evil lead to another, for if he had not done evil by killing Duncan then he would not have done evil with the death of his best friend and his son. All the evil they committed to gain power, which was what they always wanted, led to great sorrow. They realized that the dead were much happier. While Macbeth and his wife were wracked with guilt and paranoia, Duncan was seen as the lucky in the eyes of Macbeth. He did not have any threats and was much safer than Macbeth who is feared losing his throne. Macbeth made these feelings clear when he said, â€Å"In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grace;/ After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well. / Treason has done his worst; nor steel, nor poison,/ Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,/ Can touch him further. † Macbeth, soon killed by Macduff, now, too, can rest with worry. Lady Macbeth was also troubled by feelings of guilt. In her sleep she screams, â€Å"Out, damned spot! Out, I say! †¦/Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him. † Lady Macbeth is suffering from a dieses which she created from evil. Trouble and suffering have come into their lives in the place of power. Lady Macbeth ultimately kills herself, ending up in a state of peace without worries along with her husband. Macbeth is a basically good man who is troubled by his conscience and loyalty though at the same time is struggling with evils of ambition and murder. He is led to evil initially by the witches’ predictions and then by his wife’s goading, which he succumbs to because of his love for her. Lady Macbeth rids herself of any kindness that might stand in the way and fills that void with evil to achieve her ambitions. In both cases evil becomes controlling so much that both of there normal lives are ruined.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Sustainable Management Futures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Sustainable Management Futures - Essay Example But the main concern that is being asked by the people is when the economy will find the smooth path that is when the economy is expected to work according to the anticipations. The government must aim to attain higher growth than just making policies to deal with the storms that can affect the international economy. The Prime Minister believes that a better economy can be build under the current regime. According to him, human wealth and happiness can only be improved through open markets and free enterprise. The system of open market as well as and the free enterprise regime will generate progress to lift the people out of poverty and lay down the path of innovation. Open markets and free enterprise acts a bridge between contribution and reward. The idea of market that was presented by him is of something for something. This idea needs encouragement rather than condemn. Therefore, one should use the crisis of capitalism rather than undermining them. As the economy has experienced t he situation before, so the strengths and the weaknesses of the free market regime are known. All are certain of the situations where market works and where it fails. The prospects of globalization can slide into monopolization. Such situations will drive the small and the local players out of the market. Two problems can creep up in open market regime. The first problem that can creep in is vision of social responsibility and the second problem is the one of popular capitalism which allows all to share in the success of the open market. According to the minister, the previous government did not take the requisite steps to regulate capitalism. He opined that labor either went towards socialism or embraced capitalism. They did not realize that capitalism has negative aspects too. He declared that Tories have the capability to understand capitalism better and know how to deal with the worst excesses of the system. Capitalism can also be the resultant of loss of moral choices. An examp le of the banking system can be taken into account. Many people think that time calls for do something for the associated corruption and greed accrued in the banking system. One thing that is frequently missed by the people is that capitalism requires free market. The price and the quantity are determined by the market itself. The presence or absence of government can give rise to more economic problems. The government may not take the necessary steps and then blame the economic system. The politicians cry for regulations and continue to expand their power at the expense of the people. The time has come for involvement of more people in a genuinely popular capitalism. The last government claimed to get out from the boom and bust but what it really did was allowed the economy fuelled by debt to get out of control. The serious imbalances between the financial and manufacturing services were the resultant. The initiatives encouraged the debt to crop up higher as it needed to pay the ri sing costs of welfare. This paved the way for market failures. The previous government left all with a share of debt. People became concerned that they will lose purchasing power and the whole system lost confidence. The whole system ended up with

Sunday, July 28, 2019

How does the internet affect the international strategy Use Porter's 5 Essay

How does the internet affect the international strategy Use Porter's 5 Forces and tell how internet shape and change the busine - Essay Example Most companies in the modern business environment have executed some or the other form of Internet machinery into their business operations. While some enterprises faced a major conversion when emerging into an e-business function, others may have enjoyed an edge of this technology before the use of the Internet became pervasive to the present extent. (Kotler, 1997; Rainer, 2009) Internet creates economic value for business either by creating new industries such as online auctions and digital marketplaces, or by reconfiguring existing industries through reduced communication costs, easier transactions and faster information dissemination. Though catalogue retailers and toll free numbers have been always there, the internet provides a more efficient mode to order products and services. For instance, distance learning has been prevalent in the education sector for decades with almost a million students enrolling annually for various correspondence courses. But a modified and improvised version of distance learning is E-College. It is a full-service provider that works in collaboration with many universities and publishes their courses over the internet and operates the delivery network for a fee. The profitability of a business is influenced by the internet based on two main factors- industry structure and competitive advantage. While the former determines the profitability of an average competitor, the latter imparts the capacity to outperform an average competitor. (Castells, 2003; Chadwick, 2009) In today’s rapid pace of technological change in business environment, industrial analysis becomes all the more important. The structural attractiveness of an industry, whether old or new, is governed by five forces of competition. These forces, alternately known as Porter’s Five Forces, are existing rivalry among competitors, threat of substitutes, barriers to new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers and bargaining power of buyers. Though the nature of the five forces varies across industries, the profitability of an enterprise still depends of these. Due to the variable nature of the five forces, it is difficult to draw any general conclusion about the impact of the internet o business environment. But some dominant trends can be inferred through an inspection of a wide range of industries where the internet plays a vital role. Most of the industries show a positive trend owing to the expansion of markets, improved position compared to rivals and new channels to reach out to customers. (Porter, 1979; 2008; Karagiannopoulos, 2005) However some negative impacts of internet on businesses have also been in picture. It enables the buyers to have an easy access to information about products and services, thus strengthening their bargaining power. It helps in growth of new substitutes due to birth of new approaches to meets costumers’ needs. By reducing the need for an established sales force or affiliation to existing channel s, it removes barriers to entry. It dissolves geographical borders and expands the geographical market, bringing more companies into competition with each other. The increase in fixed costs, accompanying the favourable decline in variable costs, leads to the promotion of destructive price competition amongst the existing industry rivals. (Seybold, 1998; Angell, 1994) The inherent paradox is that the benefits offered by the internet expand the market through reduced operational costs, enhanced

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Transformational Leadership Style and Communication in the New Research Paper

Transformational Leadership Style and Communication in the New Organizational Goals - Research Paper Example For a business to be successful, significant changes within the external market environment of shoe industry should be aligned with the internal business environment (Change Management. Session 1. The Context of Change (lecture notes), 2010). Given that the company’s target consumers are working men and women between the age brackets of 26 to 45 years old, Richard and Katie’s plan to shift from the focus on selling Oakes shoes from small-scale shoe shops to online selling could significantly increase the company’s annual sales and profit by expanding the business within the U.K. market to international market. In line with this, there is a strong need to provide training programmes for its staff with regards to the use of online marketing and selling, new courses on web designs, and web-based applications. As an increasingly Human Capital Centric organization, Lawler (2008) explained that the HR selection and recruitment process plays an important role in terms o f establishing a long-term business relationship with its employees. In line with this, the availability of competitive and flexible training and development programmes could encourage competitive employees to deliver outstanding customer service and remain loyal to the company for a long period of time. Since the company aims to improve its existing shoe designs and expand its market through the use of online selling, it is necessary for the company to consider the need to recruit young individuals who are technically qualified to perform online marketing and selling on a part-time basis.

INFOSYSTEMS SLP3 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

INFOSYSTEMS SLP3 - Research Paper Example This can be compared to California, which has a higher average annual base salary of $77,448, Maryland, which has an average annual base salary of $69,703, and Idaho, which has an average annual base salary of $41,304. The average annual base salary for a teacher throughout the United States is $50,887. The differences indicated above can be attributed to the cost of living in different states. The cost of living in the state can be attributed to five main factors: groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, and healthcare. In California, the cost of housing is expected to be higher by 84% over the New York residence, while the only reducing cost of living is healthcare, which is expected to be lower by 2% (CNN Money, 2012). The cost of living factors are lowest in Idaho, where the only increasing factor is transportation, which will cost 5% more than in New York (CNN Money,

Friday, July 26, 2019

Urban Legends Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Urban Legends - Essay Example The lady of the house heartily denied that she had anything to do with the camera being lost, claiming her husband slipped and tossed the camera in to the Loch of his own accord. The issue was still unresolved at press time. The local sheriff’s office along with the fire department has issued an advisory - be extremely careful of what is put down drains and garbage disposals, as increasing reports are coming in of alligators coming out of the sewers. â€Å"I was just walking along Main Street, and there†¦he†¦she†¦it†¦was†, gasped 89 year old lifelong resident Gladys Pichers. Ms. Pichers, a longtime member of the local community, claims that she saw a six-foot alligator crawl out of the sewers. The sheriff’s department, though they were reluctant at first, soon received three more telephone calls about the problem of the reptilian sewer infestation. One woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, has told the Outcry that she was accosted by an 8-foot alligator across town. Whether both women saw the same alligator or not was unclear as of press time. It is also unclear as to whether or not the alligators were local residents to begin with, or have travelled many miles to join us in our local community. While camping in the forests surrounding Mt. Ranier in Washington State, a local high school student has sworn in a signed affidavit to have seen Bigfoot roaming around in the woods as well. â€Å"He was, um†¦tall,† the student recalled, when pressed for details on the subject. â€Å"And kinda hairy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Further details will appear tonight on the six o’clock news, when the teen, along with his parents and his lawyer, as well as members of the sheriff’s department, will make a statement and reveal pictures that the teen took while on his expedition. No further searches are expected to take place from law enforcement for the ‘tall, kinda hairy’ Bigfoot. Phone

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Ethics - Essay Example George is responsible for poor time management that forced him to drive above the speed limit, causing the officer to stop him and give him a ticket. His son is part of the problem because of his illness, and George wants to get him home as soon as possible for him to rest. The officer is at fault for forcing George to go down to the station. He may be exercising his duties in a manner that suggests that he would like a financial favor from George, causing him (George) to resent him and waste more time. Regarding the problem, the officer could allow George to pay the ticket the following day, when it is convenient for everybody (given that it is a Sunday). George can report to the station after taking his family home, where he can request to watch the playoffs, as he pays the ticket. The third solution is to pay the bribe and each party of the problem is satisfied (and saving on time). Though it is unethical, my solution would be to pay the bribe. The main problem is time, and the officer offering the bribe that will allow George to attend to his son and watch the playoffs, will benefit everyone involved. It is unlawful to carry out corrupt acts, however in a situation that concerns health it is an ideal solution. It will serve as a reminder on the importance of time management. George should pay the cost for poor time

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Marketing Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Managment - Essay Example This step of strategic planning process involves strategic thinking i.e. what the firm needs to do ten to fifteen years from now. The mission is followed by analysis, which involves environmental scan this analysis is important because a business strategy should be congruent with the capabilities of the firm and its external environment. This scan involves industry and competitive analysis, company analysis and identification of competitive strategy. For analysing the industry environment porter’s five forces model is used. The rivalry among firms identifies the extent of competiveness, strength of barriers to entry, buyer power, supplier power and the threat of substitute all are analysed and listed as a part of the industry analysis. In the company analysis the present strategy is assessed based on the performance indicator and financial analysis. A SWOT analysis is conducted identifying the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the firm. Also PEST analysis, in volving the political, environmental, social and technological changes affecting the firm, is also conducted. Lastly identifying competitive advantage involves core competency and benchmarking. Core competence is what a firm does best and benchmarking is comparing ones products and services with that of the customer in order to add any improvement to the existing product and services. After the situation analysis is the step of goals and objectives. The goal setting and objectives formation is a crucial part of the strategic process. Goals are broad target of what is to be achieved which are then translated in to more measurable, workable, achievable and specific targets know as objectives. After this step comes the grand strategy... This paper approves that studying the industry through porter’s five forces model gives a good picture of the automotive industry. The rivalry among firms in this industry is high due to the great diversity of rivals culture, slow market growth, high fixed costs and low switching costs for the customer. The threat of substitute to this industry is low because all other transportation vehicles don’t offer the same utility, convenience and independence. The industry has high barriers to entry due to high capital requirements and the specialized nature of the industry. The power of supplier is less as compared to that of the buyer. The buyer of the automotive industry is very high. This essay makes a conclusion that the goal for Volkswagen is to bring diversity and new models to their product line. The objective is to introduce newer models like the hands free driving and bring technological advancement in their product line. The corporate strategy for this company is a combination of growth and stability. The company plans to use concentration strategy and bring new models to the same customers. Also in order to grow they will maintain their sales and grow slowly out of their declining profits. The product marketing strategy for VW is affordable price car for everyone so as to increase it market share from the existing one. The company has carried out focus group researches to identify the needs of customers and develop a price that adds value to the customer purchase as a part of VW’s value proposition.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Cultural background Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cultural background - Essay Example My father is a Spanish who lived in Venezuela and travelled a lot to Spain. It is a common tradition for Hispanics to stay with relatives while on short vacations and so my father did. Being a capable member of the family, he took the responsibilities of every extended family member experiencing financial difficulties, sicknesses, and other life issues. In Hispanic culture, individual in the same family are vested with the responsibility of taking care of those unfortunate in the same family. Hispanic parents instil the importance of honour, respect for the elderly, good manners, and respect to authority to their children right from their childhood. Some common etiquette includes a handshake, a hug and a kiss on the cheek to signify greetings. The Hispanics have common attire that is worn to various important places including the church, or social gatherings. From the Hispanic culture, I have learnt the importance of placing great value on my looks as a sense of honour, pride, and dignity. I am a religious person and most of the Hispanic’s are, most of them professing the Roman Catholic faith. My mother being from Venezuela, we have adopted some of their cultures like love for Venezuelan fine arts, music and dances, and

Monday, July 22, 2019

Assess the Significance of Henry Viii as a Renaissance Monarch Essay Example for Free

Assess the Significance of Henry Viii as a Renaissance Monarch Essay Henry Viii was crowned in the early 16th century, during the renaissance period. The renaissance period reflects back on the 15th century Florence, Italy where the rise of religious philosophy, nationalism and interest in the arts, humanities and architecture was dominated in pop culture. Henry Viii reflected these aspects as a renaissance monarch. However his significance to the world today was his influence in the birth of the Church of England. â€Å"In 1534 Henry Viii released the atomic bomb he had been brandishing for several years at the pope† as said by Imperato. This atomic bomb is in reference to the Henretian Act of Supremacy, a milestone of how Henry viii is conjugated as a Renaissance Monarch when looking at religious Philosophy. The Act of Supremacy was the act which officially turned the church in England to the Church of England (as stated by Morrill). Henry was named supreme head of the church, and England became a protestant nation. However religious philosophy wasn’t properly explored until later when the Tyndale Bible was handed to the king. Tyndale had translated to bible from Latin to English, which was a distinct maxim of Martin Luther, the reformer. Henry sentenced Tyndall to be executed for heresy. It was later that Thomas Cranmer; Henry’s self-appointed archbishop of Canterbury said that the bible should be written in English and that all church services should be celebrated in English also. So when the Matthew Bible which was another English written bible arose it was quickly adopted by the Church of England. , this was Henry’s first action in realising religious philosophy. Jones states, â€Å"at first the church didn’t change, by all but name it was still Catholic†. Jones continues,† Tyndall was sentenced to death for heresy although it wasn’t until Cranmer said that English bibles were acceptable that another English version, the Matthew bible was adopted†. Morrill argues that, it was Anne Boleyn who convinced Henry to allow English bibles to be used. She used her influence over him to legalise such bibles. However in contrast Imperato states that it was a mix of the two members seeking conference about Martin Luther’s 95 thesis and its benefits on England. It is acknowledged that Henry VIII didn’t really want the church to reform as much as members of his court did at the time. Where religious philosophy is a key fundament to a Renaissance monarch so is the rise of a sense of Nationalism. Henry VIII explored the rise of nationalism in the form of the Act of Absolute Restraint of Appeals. This act was used to allow Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon to be annulled, as it was a National ‘issue’ not a papal ‘issue’ and therefore should be dealt with at a national level. The act absolutely annihilated any other court’s jurisdiction or influence in an English court case. And so, England seceded from Rome’s power, becoming its own Nation with its own secure jurisdictional court. Hence Henry’s renaissance monarchy rose with a sense of individual Nationalism. The rise of Nationalism was also explored In The Field Of Cloth Of Gold (1520), which was a very expensive meeting between Francis I’s court of France and Henry’s English court in the area of Calais, England’s only occupied area on the mainland of Europe. The field was supposed to be an exciting set of fun competitions to initiate an alliance between England and France. Among the land lay tents decorated with Cloth of Gold, which was a cloth of silk and cloth, but most importantly it was expensive as both monarchs were trying to best the other and very soon the meeting turned into a grandeur match between the two monarchs. The meeting did not result in an alliance being agreed to. However when Henry returned to England, he signed to an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V who, two weeks later opened war with France. The alliance between England and Spain was in itself a rise of nationalism as a military alliance was established in 1520 to strengthen the impact of England in the Renaissance world. Anderson states, â€Å"The act in restraint of appeals really plugged the already fuming relationship between Rome and England (1534)† Davis agrees by stating, England’s secession from Rome really was the beginning of a new nation, with its own jurisdictional powers only appeared to itself. From this it can be said that Henry used to Act to raise England into becoming a nation with its nationalist maxims and powers. On the matter of the Field of Cloth of Gold Shelly states, Henry’s attempt at an alliance with France was abruptly called to an end when the Field gave no results to what Henry was trying to achieve. Johnson continues Henry VIII’s attempts may have failed with France, but Charles V was more than ready to open an alliance with England. The rise of nationalism is conjugated here by the fact that Henry extended his kingdom’s power by linking with the Holy Roman Emperor in 1520. Another important fundamental component to a renaissance onarch is an interest in art and architecture which Henry upheld, an example of this is the Field of Cloth of Gold itself. The Field of Cloth of Gold was named after the grand tents made of such fabric which were flamboyant, expensive but most importantly was an expression of interest in modern (renaissance) art. The tents were made with jewels and gold thread to give it a more grandiose appearance. As previously stated, the Field was i ntended to be the birthplace of an alliance between France and England, however such never occurred. The Field was where dignitaries from the English and French courts operated for 3 weeks. The entire occasion was one where each monarch would take his turn at beating the other on things that ranged from jousts to poetry and everything in between; even the clothing that each king wore was a contest, each day both of them would be wearing clothes that out-did the clothes they wore the day before by tenfold. So instead of being a fun occasion where a real friendship between Francis I and Henry VIII it was simply a back and forth competition to show how rich and powerful each king was. The humanities and arts were explored in the Field by both monarch; plays were showed daily, poetry was recited publically, chess was played and songs were written. Henry even payed an esteemed composer and orchestra to play during the king’s dinner feast, inside Henry’s temporary palace, made of wooden beams with painted canvas that gave the full illusion of a brick interior and exterior. Jones states, The Field (oCoG) was simply a besting competition of who was the better renaissance monarch, judged on what they presented in the artistic region of renaissance maxims. From this it can be concluded that the Field of Cloth of Gold was just an expression of each king’s grandeur and how integrated their courts were with the renaissance and how wealthy they were. In conclusion, Henry VIII can be seen as a significant renaissance monarch by the expression of the rise of religious philosophical reforms shown in the Church of England’s creation. Alongside the rise of nationalism and the development of the \ of the Arts and Humanitarian concepts. All of which were fundamental components of the renaissance. However the main significance of Henry VIII today was his influence in the rise of the Anglican Church.

Rates Of reaction Essay Example for Free

Rates Of reaction Essay During this experiment I will be investigating if heating limestone and changing the concentration of the acid will affect the rate of reaction. Preliminary work Before doing our main experiment, we will have to conduct another experiment, to see what concentration of acid we will have to use. We done this using 0.1M, 0.5M and 1M of Hydrochloric acid, and 0.1g of powdered limestone, we used powdered limestone, as it would be a fairer test, I think this as all the particles of limestone will be roughly the same size, the particles have a larger surface area than cubed limestone, therefore it will react the quickest. If you were to use cubed limestone it wouldnt be fair as no cube will be exactly the same size. In conclusion to this experiment, 0.5M of acid was the best to use as it had the best measurable reaction time. Equipment The equipment we will be using during this experiment is: *Goggles (to protect the eyes from reactions) *Measuring cylinder (to measure out the acid) *Bunsen burner (to heat the acid to the right temperature) *Test tubes (to hold first experiment in) *Hydrochloric acid (the acid being used) *Powdered limestone (the substance being used) *Triangular stand (to hold the Bunsen burner) *Timer (to time the reaction) *Thermometer (to record the temperature) Diagram Possible Variables The possible variables are: *Temperature of acid- this will determine how quickly the reaction happens e.g. the limestone reacts faster or slower under a certain temperature. When the acid is heated, the particles gain *Amount of Hydrochloric acid used *Amount of limestone used *Surface area of limestone- this will determine how quickly the reaction will happen e.g. If the limestone is cubed or powdered *Concentration of acid- this will determine whether the limestone dissolves faster or slower. Input variable The variable we have decided to change is the temperature as the question we are investigating is whether changing the temperature of the acid will affect the rate of reaction. Input constants During the experiment we will be keeping the amount of hydrochloric acid and limestone used the same because if we use different amounts for each temperature it wont be a fair test, and we wont get the correct results we  are wanting. We will also keep our apparatus the same e.g. the glass beakers, this is because if we have for example a 10cm wide beaker and a 15cm beaker and we use the same amount of acid and limestone, the results will be different as both mixtures have a either larger or smaller space to react in. Output variables During the experiment we will be recording the temperature at the beginning and end of each recording, the time taken for each recording, this will be repeated 3 times (the time taken), and the averages will be calculated for both the time taken and the temperature at the end of each reading. Method *Firstly I will set up my equipment, shown in my diagram on the previous page; I will then tie my hair back and put on the safety goggles to prevent myself from danger. I will then draw a table to record my results on. *I will check to see if anything is around that is able to set alight before lighting the Bunsen burner. When it is alight I will place the glass beaker on top of the wire rack containing the acid and thermometer *When the acid has heated to 20 degrees I will remove the beaker and put the powdered limestone in immediately, as soon as the limestone is in the beaker I will start the timer, when the reaction has finished I will stop the timer and write down the result onto the table. I will then take the temperature of the acid; this will be the reading of the temperature at end. I will repeat this, another two times to make sure its a fair test. *After the first temperature has been completed I will then do the 30 degrees reading, using the same method as above * After the second temperature has been completed I will then do the 40  degrees reading, using the same method as above * After the third temperature has been completed I will then do the 50 degrees reading, using the same method as above *Lastly I will do the 60 degrees reading, using the same method as above. Its important to repeat the experiment a number of times to make sure its a fair test, the more times you repeat it, the fairer the test is going to be. Another way for the test to be fair is to keep all the variables you will not be changing, the same. For example; to keep the amount of acid and limestone used the same. Prediction In this experiment, the theory involved is the collision theory .It is the theory that when the particles get heated, they gain energy, bounce off of each other more often, causing a faster reaction. In this investigation I will be investigating If heating the acid affects the rate of reaction. Results Temp at start (c) temp at end (c) Average temp (c) Reaction time (s) time 2 (s) time 3(s) Average time (s)

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Effect of Remittances on Household Consumption Patterns

Effect of Remittances on Household Consumption Patterns Do remittances affect the consumption pattern of the Filipino households? Objectives The objective of this paper is to formulate structural models to illustrate the change in consumption pattern of the Filipino households. In this study, our aim is to use an advanced econometric approach to find out if there is indeed such change in the consumption pattern of the household receiving remittances as compared to those who only get their income from domestic sources. Review of Related Literature There are several studies regarding the consumption patterns of household. One of which is the study made by Taylor and Mora (2006), they studied about the effect of migration in reshaping the expenditure of rural households in Mexico. The conclusion that they made is that remittances has positive effects on total expenditures and investment. They also found out that as the remittances of rural household increases, the proportion of the income on consumption decreases (Taylor Mora, 2006). Another one is the study of Rasyad A. Parinduri Shandre M. Thangavelu (2008), wherein they used the Indonesia Family Life Survey data to observe the effect of remittances to the consumption patterns of the Indonesian households. In their study, they used the matching and difference-in-difference matching estimators to observe the relationship. They found out that remittances do not improve the living standard of the households, nor do remittances have an effect on economic development. They used t he education and medical expenditure as indicators of economic development. The major findings that they have are that most of the Indonesian households used the remittances in terms of investing them into luxury goods such as house and jewelries (Parinduri Thangavelu, 2008). Using the same study, we intend to observe the consumption pattern of the households, based not only on the remittances but also to other sources of income. In addition to that, instead of looking at economic development, we intend to look at the consumption goods that households normally consume, and see if there are indeed changes in the consumption patterns of the selected households. Theoretical Framework Engelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Law Methodology and Data In the methodology and data part, our main concern is to find ways to observe the consumption patterns of the Filipino households here in this country. In order to do that, we tried to find a dataset that will explain such relationship. Based from the available datasets here in the country, we would say that the Family Income and Expenditure Survey or the FIES best suits our study. The dataset enlists all the possible consumption goods that were being consumed by the households during a specific year. In addition to that, we can also determine the source of income of the different households that was made available in the dataset. By examining the relationship of consumption and income, we will be able to observe the behavioral aspect of the Filipino householdsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ consumption based from the income that they received. Due to the inaccessibility of the latest data, we settled for the 2003 edition. Based on this data, we will be able to observe the impact of the different sources of income to the kind of goods that the Filipino families consume, using an advanced econometric approach called the simultaneous equation model (SEM). After acquiring the right dataset for this study, we must next formulate the different structural equations to illustrate the consumption patterns. In this paper, we have formulated four equations, one of which is based from the Engelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Law, which again, states that when an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s income increases, his/her percentage of consumption decreases (Engelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Law, n.d.). As for the other three other equations which are mainly composed of different sources of income, mainly wages, domestic source, and foreign source, we have used other studies conducted by (SOURCE) ,to see what are the factors that affects or determine the different sources of income. After formulating the equations, we decided to use the log-log model for the estimation, simply because our study aims to observe the income elasticity of the different goods. With the use of the log-log model, we will be able to determine the elasticity of the different consumption goods, by just looking at their respective estimated coefficients. Another reason why we chose the log-log model is because of the limited information about the domestic and foreign source of income in the FIES data. There are several households in the data who either do not receive domestic or foreign source of income, or the data gatherers failed to obtain these data from the respective respondents. By using the log-log model, we will be able to exclude those unrecorded observations, so that the results will be not inconsistent and will not be affected by the people who do not receive income from either domestic or foreign source. After citing the reasons for the construction of the model, next, we will be observing three consumption goods, particularly the total food expenditures, the total non food expenditures, and the tobacco-alcohol consumption. Model 1: Food Consumption Equation 1: Equation 2: Equation 3: Equation 4: Where: food = total food expenditures Condo = domestic source of income Conab = foreign source of income Wage = wages or salaries of the household Wsag = wages or salaries from agricultural activities Wsnag = wages or salaries from non-agricultural activities S1021_age = household head age S1041_hgc = household head highest grade completed S1101_employed = total number of family employed with pay Lc10_conwr = contractual worker indicator In order to observe the consumption patterns of the Filipino household based from the different sources of income, we will be modifying the first equation of the model, by replacing one good to the other good, while maintaining the same structural forms. For example, in the initial first model, we have chosen food expenditure as our first consumption good. Later on, we will be observing other consumption goods such as non food expenditure, and alcoholic tobacco-alcohol consumption, and we will replace the food consumption with these other goods. This is because consumption goods are all affected by the income, and we have chosen the different income sources based from the availability of the FIES data, which was released on 2003. A-priori expectation Given the interrelationship of the equations, it seems like we have to solve the equations simultaneously to estimate for the unknown variables. Before we can use the simultaneous equation model (SEM) approach, there are several identification problems that we must solve in order to know whether SEM is an appropriate method or not. According to Gujarati and Porter (2009), the identification problem process consists of the following tests: a. order and rank condition, b. Hausman specification test, which is also known as the simultaneity test, and c. exogeneity test. Identification Problem Order and rank condition Before we proceed with the order and rank condition, we must first define the different variables that we will be using in order to test whether the equations are under-identified, exactly identified or over-identified. Legend: M à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  number of endogenous variables in the model m à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  number of endogenous variables in the equation K à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  number of exogenous/predetermined variables in the model k à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  number of exogenous/predetermined variables in the equation Order Condition The order condition is a necessary but not sufficient condition for identification (Gujarati and Porter, 2009). This test is used to see whether an equation is identified by comparing the number of excluded exogenous/predetermined variables in a given equation with the number of endogenous variables in the equation less one. There will be three instances where we can determine if the equation is identified or not. First, if K-k (number of excluded predetermined variables in the equation) In the first model, there are four endogenous variables namely lnfood, lnwages, lncondo, and lnconab (M=4). And there are also six exogenous variables in the equation which are the variables that were not named (K=6). With that, the order condition of the food consumption is illustrated below: Equation K-k m-1 Conclusion Lnfood 6 3 Over Lnwages 4 0 Over Lncondo 2 0 Over Lnconab 2 0 Over In the first case, all the equations are considered to be over-identified, simply because K-k > m-1. In the order condition, we have concluded that the model is identified. However, the order condition is not sufficiently enough to justify whether an equation is identified or not, that is why there is another condition that must be satisfied before we can proceed to the estimation process, which is the rank condition. Rank Condition The rank condition is a necessary and sufficient condition for identification. In order to satisfy the rank condition, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there must be at least one nonzero determinant of order (M-1) (M-1) can be constructed from the coefficients of the variables excluded from that particular equation but included in the other equations of the modelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?(Gujarati and Porter, 2009). Ys Xs Eq. Food Wages condo conab 1 wssag wsnag hh_age hh_hgc employed conwr lnfood 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lnwages 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lncondo 0 0 1 0 0 0 Lnconab 0 0 0 1 0 0 We simplify the variableà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s notation, but ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s basically the same as the variables in the model, it only lacks the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“lnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in some variables, and some variablesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ descriptions are shortened. We can observed that the (M-1) x (M-1), which in this case is 3 x 3 matrices, have at least one nonzero determinant, therefore the rank condition is satisfied. We can now proceed to the other identification test. Hausman specification test The Hausman specification test is to test whether the equations exhibits simultaneity problem or not. According to Gujarati and Porter (2009), if there is not simultaneity problem, then OLS is BLUE (best linear unbiased estimator). But if there is simultaneity problem, then OLS is not blue, because the estimated results will be bias and inconsistent. With that, we have to use the different estimation techniques of the SEM in order to regress the given equations. The Hausman specification test involves the following process: First, we regress an endogenous variable with respect to all of the exogenous/predetermined variables in the system, after which we obtain the value of the residual, in which it is the predictedThe second step is to regress the endogenous variable with respect to the other endogenous variables plus the predicted . If the is statistically significant, this means that we have all the evidence to reject the null hypothesis, which states that there is no simultaneity bias in the model. But if it is insignificant, we have no evidence to reject the null hypothesis, and if that happens, there is no simultaneity problem. The variable that exhibits no simultaneity bias should not be treated as an endogenous variable. (Gujarati and Porter, 2009) Dependent variable: lnwages P-values Independent variables: lncondo 0.370 lnconab 0.014 uhat 0.000 For the simultaneity test in the first model, we follow the steps in the Hausman specification test. After that, we observed the predicted uhat in this regression and we can see that the predicted uhat here is 0.000. This means that the null hypothesis is rejected, and there exist simultaneity bias in the first model, therefore we should use other estimation techniques other than OLS, to produce unbiased and consistent estimates. Exogeneity test After the simultaneity test, we must also test for the other exogenous/predetermined variables, to check whether these variables are truly exogenous or not. The process is similar to the Hausman specification test, but instead of regressing the endogenous variables, we regress each exogenous/predetermined variable with respect to the . If the is statistically significant, then we have to reject the null hypothesis that it is truly an exogenous variable. But if the p-value of the is 1.000, this means that we have no evidence to reject the null hypothesis, and we conclude that the corresponding variables are truly exogenous or truly predetermined variables. Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat Lnwsag 1.000 lnwsnag 1.000 Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 3nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat s1021_age 1.000 s1041_hgc 1.000 s1101_employed 1.000 lc10_conwr 1.000 Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 4nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat s1021_age 1.000 s1041_hgc 1.000 s1101_employed 1.000 lc10_conwr 1.000 Based from the table given above, each exogenous variable is regressed against the predict uhat and looking at the respective p-values, which are all 1.000. This means that we have no evidence to reject that these variables are indeed truly exogenous variables in each of the equations. Model 2: Non Food Consumption Equation 1: Equation 2: Equation 3: Equation 4: Where: nonfood = total non food expenditure In model 2, we basically changed the total food expenditure with the total non food expenditure. Before we can regress the model, this model should also undergo series of identification problem process to see if whether the model is identified or not. We will also test if the nonfood expenditure model exhibits simultaneity bias and if all of its exogenous variables are truly exogenous. Order and Rank Condition Order Condition Equation K-k m-1 Conclusion Lnnonfood 6 3 Over Lnwages 4 0 Over Lncondo 2 0 Over Lnconab 2 0 Over Similar to the food consumption order condition, the non food consumption is also identified based on the order condition. All equations are concluded to be over-identified; therefore we can say that the model is identified. But again, we must use the rank condition to further validate if the equations are truly identified or not. Rank Condition Ys Xs Eq. nonfood wages condo conab 1 wssag wsnag hh_age hh_hgc employed conwr lnnonfood 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lnwages 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lncondo 0 0 1 0 0 0 lnconab 0 0 0 1 0 0 Based from the sub 33 matrices, we can say that there exists at least one nonzero determinant in the equation, therefore rank condition is satisfied. This means that the equations are identified. Hausman specification test Dependent variable: lnwages P-values Independent variables: lncondo 0.533 lnconab 0.011 uhat2 0.001 For the simultaneity test in model 2, we can see that uhat2 is statistically significant, meaning there exists a simultaneity bias in the model. Therefore we must use the SEM estimation techniques similar to model 1, to estimate the impact of income and consumption goods. Exogeneity test Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat2 Lnwsag 1.000 lnwsnag 1.000 Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 3nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat2 s1021_age 1.000 s1041_hgc 1.000 s1101_employed 1.000 lc10_conwr 1.000 Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 4nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat2 s1021_age 1.000 s1041_hgc 1.000 s1101_employed 1.000 lc10_conwr 1.000 Similar to the food consumption model, the exogenous variables in the nonfood model are truly exogenous, since all the resulting p-values for uhat2, are all 1.000. Model 3: Tobacco-Alcohol Consumption Equation 1: Equation 2: Equation 3: Equation 4: Where: at = tobacco-alcohol consumption The same process in model 2 was made here in model 3, we now check for the identification problems for the tobacco-alcohol consumption Order and Rank Condition Order Condition Equation K-k m-1 Conclusion Lnat 6 3 Over Lnwages 4 0 Over Lncondo 2 0 Over Lnconab 2 0 Over Order condition is satisfied here in model 3, since all of the equations are concluded to be over-identification. We now proceed to the rank condition to check if the equations are ultimately identified. Rank Condition Ys Xs Eq. at wages condo conab 1 wssag wsnag hh_age hh_hgc employed conwr lnat 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lnwages 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lncondo 0 0 1 0 0 0 lnconab 0 0 0 1 0 0 Rank condition is satisfied because there is at least one nonzero determinant here in the sub 33 matrices. Hausman specification test Dependent variable: lnwages P-values Independent variables: lncondo 0.911 lnconab 0.063 uhat3 0.003 In model 3, there is no simultaneity problem because uhat3 is statistically significant. Therefore, we have all the evidence to reject the null hypothesis that there is no simultaneity bias in the equation. The same procedure as for food and nonfood model, we will be using the different estimation techniques to estimate these unknown variables. Estimation Techniques and Results Estimation Techniques After the identification problems of the simultaneous equation problem, we proceed to the estimation techniques. As discussed by Gujarati and Porter (2009), they provided three estimation techniques in order to solve for SEM, namely the ordinary least squares (OLS), indirect least squares (ILS), and the two-stage least squares (2SLS). The OLS is used for the recursive, triangular, or causal models (Gujarati and Porter, 2009). Meanwhile, the ILS focuses more on the reduced form of the simultaneous equations, wherein there exists only one endogenous variable in the reduced form equation and it is expressed in terms of all existing exogenous/predetermined variables in the model. It is estimated through the OLS approach, and this method best suits if the model is exactly identified (Gujarati and Porter, 2009). Lastly, the 2SLS approach, wherein the equations are estimated simultaneously. Unlike ILS, 2SLS can used to estimate exact and over-identified equations. (Gujarati and Porter, 2009 ) The three approaches discussed by Gujarati and Porter (2009) are all based from the single equation approach. If there are CLRM violations such as autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity in the models, we must use the system approach, particularly the three-stage least squares (3SLS), to correct these violations. The only drawback of the 3SLS method is that if any errors in one equation will affect the other equations. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Since all three models suffer from simultaneity bias, we will not use the OLS in this paper. This is because if we used the OLS in estimating the equation which there exist simultaneity bias, the results will be biased and inconsistent. Therefore, OLS is not a good estimator for the three models. Indirect Least Squares (ILS) Food consumption model reduced form: Where: | Nonfood model reduced form: Where: | Tobacco-Alcohol model reduced form: Where: | We will not estimate anymore the coefficient for the ILS, because our main goal is to observe the relationship of consumption goods with the different sources of income and not the other determinants of the different sources of income. The ILS results will not yield standard error for the structural coefficients; therefore it will be hard to obtain the values of the structural coefficients. In addition to that, all of our equations are over-identified, therefore ILS is an inappropriate method to estimate the coefficients. Two-stage least squares (2SLS) Consumption Goods Food (948 obs) Non Food (1078 obs) Tobacco-Alcohol (634 obs) 1st Equation Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 6.428484 (0.000) 1.401963 (0.070) 12.94298 (0.001) lnwages 0.2235283 (0.000) 0.2880426 (0.000) 0.7781965 (0.000) lncondo 0.0223739 (0.622) 0.2036453 (0.013) -1.47202 (0.000) lnconab 0.205797 (0.001) 0.5110999 (0.000) 0.6098058 (0.121) 2nd Eq. lnwages Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 2.122649 (0.000) 2.122649 (0.000) 1.884011 (0.000) lnwsag 0.3611279 (0.000) 0.3611279 (0.000) 0.42199 (0.000) lnwsnag 0.5175117 (0.000) 0.5175117 (0.000) 0.483135 (0.000) 3rd Eq. lncondo Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 7.75861 (0.000) 7.75861 (0.000) 7.887869 (0.000) s1021_age -0.0003422 (0.903) -0.0003422 (0.903) 0.0014345 (0.720) s1041_hgc 0.0346237 (0.000) 0.0346237 (0.000) 0.1302147 (0.000) s1101_employed -0.023387 (0.450) -0.023387 (0.450) -0.0601213 (0.111) lc10conwr 0.1583353 (0.345) 0.1583353 (0.345) 0.0871853 (0.710) 4th Eq. lnconab Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 10.39914 (0.000) 10.39914 (0.000) 9.947326 (0.000) s1021_age 0.004519 (0.169) 0.004519 (0.169) 0.0145833 (0.002) s1041_hgc 0.0210221 (0.000) 0.0210221 (0.000) 0.150857 (0.000) s1101_employed 0.0420871 (0.245) 0.0420871 (0.245) 0.0273189 (0.541) lc10conwr -0.6848394 (0.000) -0.6848394 (0.000) -0.7780885 (0.005) Since FIES is a cross sectional data, the model maybe exposed to the violations of multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity. As shown in the appendix1, under the CLRM violations, there exists no multicollinearity in the equations, but there exists heteroscedasticity three out of four equations in the model. The only way to correct for the heteroscedasticity problem is by estimating the simultaneous equations using the three-stage least squares method, which is considered to be full information approach. Three-stage least squares (3SLS) Consumption Goods Food (948 obs) Non Food (1078 obs) Tobacco-Alcohol (634 obs) 1st Equation Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 6.383871 (0.000) 0.7926094 (0.289) 18.63624 (0.000) lnwages 0.2224267 (0.000) 0.2831109 (0.000) 0.7374008 (0.000) lncondo 0.0245077 (0.582) 0.3151916 (0.000) -2.405262 (0.000) lnconab 0.2101956 (0.001) 0.4810778 (0.000) 0.9024638 (0.020) 2nd Eq. lnwages Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 2.142826 (0.000) 2.126479 (0.000) 1.895235 (0.000) lnwsag 0.3560053 (0.000) 0.3594587 (0.000) 0.419183 (0.000) lnwsnag 0.5203181 (0.000) 0.5187091 (0.000) 0.4846674 (0.000) 3rd Eq. lncondo Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 7.66644 (0.000) 7.420188 (0.000) 8.252266 (0.000) s1021_age 0.0000462 (0.987) -0.0005333 (0.840) 0.0042572 (0.224) s1041_hgc 0.0344578 (0.000) 0.0327889 (0.000) 0.0972984 (0.002) s1101_employed -0.0109756 (0.720) 0.030168 (0.302) -0.0811008 (0.009) lc10conwr 0.173369 (0.296) 0.234941 (0.151) -0.0362562 (0.860) 4th Eq. lnconab Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 9.635422 (0.000) 9.760654 (0.000) 9.899007 (0.000) s1021_age 0.0025551 (0.394) 0.0034051 (0.195) 0.0140427 (0.003) s1041_hgc 0.0212975 (0.000) 0.0171248 (0.000) 0.1589354 (0.000) s1101_employed 0.1534522 (0.000) 0.1464836 (0.000) 0.0291422 (0.510) lc10conwr -0.484862 (0.011) -0.5302148 (0.004) -0.761339 (0.006) By using the 3SLS, the models are now corrected and it is free from any CLRM violations. Therefore, the table shown above is already the final model of estimation, and we can now interpret the results equation per equation basis. Check for equality and unit elasticity As indicated in the appendices (last part), we also check if there lnwages and lnconab in the food consumption equation are indeed equal. We used the test command in STATA, to see if the two variables are equal, by looking at its p-value. The resulting p-value of the test is 0.8614, meaning we have no evidence to reject the null hypothesis that the two variablesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ coefficients are equal. We made the same process for the lnwages and lncondo in the nonfood consumption equation, and the resulting p-value of the test is 0.6846, which means that lnwages and lncondo are also equal in the estimation. Aside from the check for equality, we also check if the lnconabà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s income elasticity to tobacco-alcohol consumption is equal to 1. The resulting p-value for the test is 0.8007, which means that the income elasticity of lnconab to tobacco-alcohol consumption is 1, meaning it is unit elastic. Results Model 1 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Food Consumption In the first model, which is the total food expenditure model, the variable domestic source of income in the 1st equation is considered to be statistically insignificant. This means that it will be meaningless to interpret the results of that particular variable. As for wages and foreign source of income, we can see that the two coefficients are very similar, which means that for every one percent increase in wages and foreign source of income, food consumption increases by 0.22 and 0.21 percent respectively. The results are clearly consistent with Engelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Law of food consumption that the proportion of food expenditure decrease as an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s income increases. For the 2nd equation, which is the wage equation, the result shows that the impact of non-agricultural activities is greater compared to agricultural activities. This is consistent with our a-priori expectation of one having a larger impact than the other. In reality, we can see that non-agricultural activities result to higher income due to its high value added products that it produces. The higher the value added the work is, the higher the changes are that wages or salaries received will be also higher. For the 3rd and 4th equation, which is considered to be similar except for the source of income where it comes from, the results show that only highest grade completed is considered to be statistically significant in the 3rd equation, while in the 4th equation, the household headà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s age is the only one which is statistically insignificant. For the domestic source of income, we can observed that people who has a larger share of the wages or salaries in the company, have typically higher educational attainment compared to those who have lower educational attainment. The result of the 3rd equation maybe attributed to that factor. For the 4th equation, it is the same explanation for the highest grade completed by the household head as in the 3rd equation. While for the total family members employed with pay, it has a positive relationship, simply because if there are larger number of family members who are working and receiving salaries, the cumulative source of income wi ll be larger, compared to those families who have fewer number of family members working with pay. The last variable in the 4th equation, which is the dummy variable contract worker, we can see in the result that if an individual is a contract worker, generally, that individual will receive lower wages compared to those regular employees. This is because contractual workers are given limited period of time to work for certain companies, and companies hire contractual workers for short term uses. With that, companies usually pay lower amount of wages to these short term workers. Model 2 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Non food consumption For the 2nd model, the nonfood consumption model, all the variables in the 1st equation are all statistically significant. The coefficients of wages and domestic source of income are similar, but there is a disparity between these two variables and the foreign source of income, which resulted to a higher coefficient. The higher coefficient means that the foreign source of income is more sensitive to nonfood consumption compared to the initial two variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" wages and domestic income. We can see in the result that a ho Effect of Remittances on Household Consumption Patterns Effect of Remittances on Household Consumption Patterns Do remittances affect the consumption pattern of the Filipino households? Objectives The objective of this paper is to formulate structural models to illustrate the change in consumption pattern of the Filipino households. In this study, our aim is to use an advanced econometric approach to find out if there is indeed such change in the consumption pattern of the household receiving remittances as compared to those who only get their income from domestic sources. Review of Related Literature There are several studies regarding the consumption patterns of household. One of which is the study made by Taylor and Mora (2006), they studied about the effect of migration in reshaping the expenditure of rural households in Mexico. The conclusion that they made is that remittances has positive effects on total expenditures and investment. They also found out that as the remittances of rural household increases, the proportion of the income on consumption decreases (Taylor Mora, 2006). Another one is the study of Rasyad A. Parinduri Shandre M. Thangavelu (2008), wherein they used the Indonesia Family Life Survey data to observe the effect of remittances to the consumption patterns of the Indonesian households. In their study, they used the matching and difference-in-difference matching estimators to observe the relationship. They found out that remittances do not improve the living standard of the households, nor do remittances have an effect on economic development. They used t he education and medical expenditure as indicators of economic development. The major findings that they have are that most of the Indonesian households used the remittances in terms of investing them into luxury goods such as house and jewelries (Parinduri Thangavelu, 2008). Using the same study, we intend to observe the consumption pattern of the households, based not only on the remittances but also to other sources of income. In addition to that, instead of looking at economic development, we intend to look at the consumption goods that households normally consume, and see if there are indeed changes in the consumption patterns of the selected households. Theoretical Framework Engelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Law Methodology and Data In the methodology and data part, our main concern is to find ways to observe the consumption patterns of the Filipino households here in this country. In order to do that, we tried to find a dataset that will explain such relationship. Based from the available datasets here in the country, we would say that the Family Income and Expenditure Survey or the FIES best suits our study. The dataset enlists all the possible consumption goods that were being consumed by the households during a specific year. In addition to that, we can also determine the source of income of the different households that was made available in the dataset. By examining the relationship of consumption and income, we will be able to observe the behavioral aspect of the Filipino householdsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ consumption based from the income that they received. Due to the inaccessibility of the latest data, we settled for the 2003 edition. Based on this data, we will be able to observe the impact of the different sources of income to the kind of goods that the Filipino families consume, using an advanced econometric approach called the simultaneous equation model (SEM). After acquiring the right dataset for this study, we must next formulate the different structural equations to illustrate the consumption patterns. In this paper, we have formulated four equations, one of which is based from the Engelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Law, which again, states that when an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s income increases, his/her percentage of consumption decreases (Engelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Law, n.d.). As for the other three other equations which are mainly composed of different sources of income, mainly wages, domestic source, and foreign source, we have used other studies conducted by (SOURCE) ,to see what are the factors that affects or determine the different sources of income. After formulating the equations, we decided to use the log-log model for the estimation, simply because our study aims to observe the income elasticity of the different goods. With the use of the log-log model, we will be able to determine the elasticity of the different consumption goods, by just looking at their respective estimated coefficients. Another reason why we chose the log-log model is because of the limited information about the domestic and foreign source of income in the FIES data. There are several households in the data who either do not receive domestic or foreign source of income, or the data gatherers failed to obtain these data from the respective respondents. By using the log-log model, we will be able to exclude those unrecorded observations, so that the results will be not inconsistent and will not be affected by the people who do not receive income from either domestic or foreign source. After citing the reasons for the construction of the model, next, we will be observing three consumption goods, particularly the total food expenditures, the total non food expenditures, and the tobacco-alcohol consumption. Model 1: Food Consumption Equation 1: Equation 2: Equation 3: Equation 4: Where: food = total food expenditures Condo = domestic source of income Conab = foreign source of income Wage = wages or salaries of the household Wsag = wages or salaries from agricultural activities Wsnag = wages or salaries from non-agricultural activities S1021_age = household head age S1041_hgc = household head highest grade completed S1101_employed = total number of family employed with pay Lc10_conwr = contractual worker indicator In order to observe the consumption patterns of the Filipino household based from the different sources of income, we will be modifying the first equation of the model, by replacing one good to the other good, while maintaining the same structural forms. For example, in the initial first model, we have chosen food expenditure as our first consumption good. Later on, we will be observing other consumption goods such as non food expenditure, and alcoholic tobacco-alcohol consumption, and we will replace the food consumption with these other goods. This is because consumption goods are all affected by the income, and we have chosen the different income sources based from the availability of the FIES data, which was released on 2003. A-priori expectation Given the interrelationship of the equations, it seems like we have to solve the equations simultaneously to estimate for the unknown variables. Before we can use the simultaneous equation model (SEM) approach, there are several identification problems that we must solve in order to know whether SEM is an appropriate method or not. According to Gujarati and Porter (2009), the identification problem process consists of the following tests: a. order and rank condition, b. Hausman specification test, which is also known as the simultaneity test, and c. exogeneity test. Identification Problem Order and rank condition Before we proceed with the order and rank condition, we must first define the different variables that we will be using in order to test whether the equations are under-identified, exactly identified or over-identified. Legend: M à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  number of endogenous variables in the model m à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  number of endogenous variables in the equation K à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  number of exogenous/predetermined variables in the model k à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  number of exogenous/predetermined variables in the equation Order Condition The order condition is a necessary but not sufficient condition for identification (Gujarati and Porter, 2009). This test is used to see whether an equation is identified by comparing the number of excluded exogenous/predetermined variables in a given equation with the number of endogenous variables in the equation less one. There will be three instances where we can determine if the equation is identified or not. First, if K-k (number of excluded predetermined variables in the equation) In the first model, there are four endogenous variables namely lnfood, lnwages, lncondo, and lnconab (M=4). And there are also six exogenous variables in the equation which are the variables that were not named (K=6). With that, the order condition of the food consumption is illustrated below: Equation K-k m-1 Conclusion Lnfood 6 3 Over Lnwages 4 0 Over Lncondo 2 0 Over Lnconab 2 0 Over In the first case, all the equations are considered to be over-identified, simply because K-k > m-1. In the order condition, we have concluded that the model is identified. However, the order condition is not sufficiently enough to justify whether an equation is identified or not, that is why there is another condition that must be satisfied before we can proceed to the estimation process, which is the rank condition. Rank Condition The rank condition is a necessary and sufficient condition for identification. In order to satisfy the rank condition, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there must be at least one nonzero determinant of order (M-1) (M-1) can be constructed from the coefficients of the variables excluded from that particular equation but included in the other equations of the modelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?(Gujarati and Porter, 2009). Ys Xs Eq. Food Wages condo conab 1 wssag wsnag hh_age hh_hgc employed conwr lnfood 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lnwages 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lncondo 0 0 1 0 0 0 Lnconab 0 0 0 1 0 0 We simplify the variableà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s notation, but ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s basically the same as the variables in the model, it only lacks the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“lnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in some variables, and some variablesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ descriptions are shortened. We can observed that the (M-1) x (M-1), which in this case is 3 x 3 matrices, have at least one nonzero determinant, therefore the rank condition is satisfied. We can now proceed to the other identification test. Hausman specification test The Hausman specification test is to test whether the equations exhibits simultaneity problem or not. According to Gujarati and Porter (2009), if there is not simultaneity problem, then OLS is BLUE (best linear unbiased estimator). But if there is simultaneity problem, then OLS is not blue, because the estimated results will be bias and inconsistent. With that, we have to use the different estimation techniques of the SEM in order to regress the given equations. The Hausman specification test involves the following process: First, we regress an endogenous variable with respect to all of the exogenous/predetermined variables in the system, after which we obtain the value of the residual, in which it is the predictedThe second step is to regress the endogenous variable with respect to the other endogenous variables plus the predicted . If the is statistically significant, this means that we have all the evidence to reject the null hypothesis, which states that there is no simultaneity bias in the model. But if it is insignificant, we have no evidence to reject the null hypothesis, and if that happens, there is no simultaneity problem. The variable that exhibits no simultaneity bias should not be treated as an endogenous variable. (Gujarati and Porter, 2009) Dependent variable: lnwages P-values Independent variables: lncondo 0.370 lnconab 0.014 uhat 0.000 For the simultaneity test in the first model, we follow the steps in the Hausman specification test. After that, we observed the predicted uhat in this regression and we can see that the predicted uhat here is 0.000. This means that the null hypothesis is rejected, and there exist simultaneity bias in the first model, therefore we should use other estimation techniques other than OLS, to produce unbiased and consistent estimates. Exogeneity test After the simultaneity test, we must also test for the other exogenous/predetermined variables, to check whether these variables are truly exogenous or not. The process is similar to the Hausman specification test, but instead of regressing the endogenous variables, we regress each exogenous/predetermined variable with respect to the . If the is statistically significant, then we have to reject the null hypothesis that it is truly an exogenous variable. But if the p-value of the is 1.000, this means that we have no evidence to reject the null hypothesis, and we conclude that the corresponding variables are truly exogenous or truly predetermined variables. Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat Lnwsag 1.000 lnwsnag 1.000 Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 3nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat s1021_age 1.000 s1041_hgc 1.000 s1101_employed 1.000 lc10_conwr 1.000 Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 4nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat s1021_age 1.000 s1041_hgc 1.000 s1101_employed 1.000 lc10_conwr 1.000 Based from the table given above, each exogenous variable is regressed against the predict uhat and looking at the respective p-values, which are all 1.000. This means that we have no evidence to reject that these variables are indeed truly exogenous variables in each of the equations. Model 2: Non Food Consumption Equation 1: Equation 2: Equation 3: Equation 4: Where: nonfood = total non food expenditure In model 2, we basically changed the total food expenditure with the total non food expenditure. Before we can regress the model, this model should also undergo series of identification problem process to see if whether the model is identified or not. We will also test if the nonfood expenditure model exhibits simultaneity bias and if all of its exogenous variables are truly exogenous. Order and Rank Condition Order Condition Equation K-k m-1 Conclusion Lnnonfood 6 3 Over Lnwages 4 0 Over Lncondo 2 0 Over Lnconab 2 0 Over Similar to the food consumption order condition, the non food consumption is also identified based on the order condition. All equations are concluded to be over-identified; therefore we can say that the model is identified. But again, we must use the rank condition to further validate if the equations are truly identified or not. Rank Condition Ys Xs Eq. nonfood wages condo conab 1 wssag wsnag hh_age hh_hgc employed conwr lnnonfood 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lnwages 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lncondo 0 0 1 0 0 0 lnconab 0 0 0 1 0 0 Based from the sub 33 matrices, we can say that there exists at least one nonzero determinant in the equation, therefore rank condition is satisfied. This means that the equations are identified. Hausman specification test Dependent variable: lnwages P-values Independent variables: lncondo 0.533 lnconab 0.011 uhat2 0.001 For the simultaneity test in model 2, we can see that uhat2 is statistically significant, meaning there exists a simultaneity bias in the model. Therefore we must use the SEM estimation techniques similar to model 1, to estimate the impact of income and consumption goods. Exogeneity test Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat2 Lnwsag 1.000 lnwsnag 1.000 Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 3nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat2 s1021_age 1.000 s1041_hgc 1.000 s1101_employed 1.000 lc10_conwr 1.000 Exogenous variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 4nd equation Resulting p-values for uhat2 s1021_age 1.000 s1041_hgc 1.000 s1101_employed 1.000 lc10_conwr 1.000 Similar to the food consumption model, the exogenous variables in the nonfood model are truly exogenous, since all the resulting p-values for uhat2, are all 1.000. Model 3: Tobacco-Alcohol Consumption Equation 1: Equation 2: Equation 3: Equation 4: Where: at = tobacco-alcohol consumption The same process in model 2 was made here in model 3, we now check for the identification problems for the tobacco-alcohol consumption Order and Rank Condition Order Condition Equation K-k m-1 Conclusion Lnat 6 3 Over Lnwages 4 0 Over Lncondo 2 0 Over Lnconab 2 0 Over Order condition is satisfied here in model 3, since all of the equations are concluded to be over-identification. We now proceed to the rank condition to check if the equations are ultimately identified. Rank Condition Ys Xs Eq. at wages condo conab 1 wssag wsnag hh_age hh_hgc employed conwr lnat 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lnwages 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lncondo 0 0 1 0 0 0 lnconab 0 0 0 1 0 0 Rank condition is satisfied because there is at least one nonzero determinant here in the sub 33 matrices. Hausman specification test Dependent variable: lnwages P-values Independent variables: lncondo 0.911 lnconab 0.063 uhat3 0.003 In model 3, there is no simultaneity problem because uhat3 is statistically significant. Therefore, we have all the evidence to reject the null hypothesis that there is no simultaneity bias in the equation. The same procedure as for food and nonfood model, we will be using the different estimation techniques to estimate these unknown variables. Estimation Techniques and Results Estimation Techniques After the identification problems of the simultaneous equation problem, we proceed to the estimation techniques. As discussed by Gujarati and Porter (2009), they provided three estimation techniques in order to solve for SEM, namely the ordinary least squares (OLS), indirect least squares (ILS), and the two-stage least squares (2SLS). The OLS is used for the recursive, triangular, or causal models (Gujarati and Porter, 2009). Meanwhile, the ILS focuses more on the reduced form of the simultaneous equations, wherein there exists only one endogenous variable in the reduced form equation and it is expressed in terms of all existing exogenous/predetermined variables in the model. It is estimated through the OLS approach, and this method best suits if the model is exactly identified (Gujarati and Porter, 2009). Lastly, the 2SLS approach, wherein the equations are estimated simultaneously. Unlike ILS, 2SLS can used to estimate exact and over-identified equations. (Gujarati and Porter, 2009 ) The three approaches discussed by Gujarati and Porter (2009) are all based from the single equation approach. If there are CLRM violations such as autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity in the models, we must use the system approach, particularly the three-stage least squares (3SLS), to correct these violations. The only drawback of the 3SLS method is that if any errors in one equation will affect the other equations. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Since all three models suffer from simultaneity bias, we will not use the OLS in this paper. This is because if we used the OLS in estimating the equation which there exist simultaneity bias, the results will be biased and inconsistent. Therefore, OLS is not a good estimator for the three models. Indirect Least Squares (ILS) Food consumption model reduced form: Where: | Nonfood model reduced form: Where: | Tobacco-Alcohol model reduced form: Where: | We will not estimate anymore the coefficient for the ILS, because our main goal is to observe the relationship of consumption goods with the different sources of income and not the other determinants of the different sources of income. The ILS results will not yield standard error for the structural coefficients; therefore it will be hard to obtain the values of the structural coefficients. In addition to that, all of our equations are over-identified, therefore ILS is an inappropriate method to estimate the coefficients. Two-stage least squares (2SLS) Consumption Goods Food (948 obs) Non Food (1078 obs) Tobacco-Alcohol (634 obs) 1st Equation Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 6.428484 (0.000) 1.401963 (0.070) 12.94298 (0.001) lnwages 0.2235283 (0.000) 0.2880426 (0.000) 0.7781965 (0.000) lncondo 0.0223739 (0.622) 0.2036453 (0.013) -1.47202 (0.000) lnconab 0.205797 (0.001) 0.5110999 (0.000) 0.6098058 (0.121) 2nd Eq. lnwages Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 2.122649 (0.000) 2.122649 (0.000) 1.884011 (0.000) lnwsag 0.3611279 (0.000) 0.3611279 (0.000) 0.42199 (0.000) lnwsnag 0.5175117 (0.000) 0.5175117 (0.000) 0.483135 (0.000) 3rd Eq. lncondo Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 7.75861 (0.000) 7.75861 (0.000) 7.887869 (0.000) s1021_age -0.0003422 (0.903) -0.0003422 (0.903) 0.0014345 (0.720) s1041_hgc 0.0346237 (0.000) 0.0346237 (0.000) 0.1302147 (0.000) s1101_employed -0.023387 (0.450) -0.023387 (0.450) -0.0601213 (0.111) lc10conwr 0.1583353 (0.345) 0.1583353 (0.345) 0.0871853 (0.710) 4th Eq. lnconab Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 10.39914 (0.000) 10.39914 (0.000) 9.947326 (0.000) s1021_age 0.004519 (0.169) 0.004519 (0.169) 0.0145833 (0.002) s1041_hgc 0.0210221 (0.000) 0.0210221 (0.000) 0.150857 (0.000) s1101_employed 0.0420871 (0.245) 0.0420871 (0.245) 0.0273189 (0.541) lc10conwr -0.6848394 (0.000) -0.6848394 (0.000) -0.7780885 (0.005) Since FIES is a cross sectional data, the model maybe exposed to the violations of multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity. As shown in the appendix1, under the CLRM violations, there exists no multicollinearity in the equations, but there exists heteroscedasticity three out of four equations in the model. The only way to correct for the heteroscedasticity problem is by estimating the simultaneous equations using the three-stage least squares method, which is considered to be full information approach. Three-stage least squares (3SLS) Consumption Goods Food (948 obs) Non Food (1078 obs) Tobacco-Alcohol (634 obs) 1st Equation Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 6.383871 (0.000) 0.7926094 (0.289) 18.63624 (0.000) lnwages 0.2224267 (0.000) 0.2831109 (0.000) 0.7374008 (0.000) lncondo 0.0245077 (0.582) 0.3151916 (0.000) -2.405262 (0.000) lnconab 0.2101956 (0.001) 0.4810778 (0.000) 0.9024638 (0.020) 2nd Eq. lnwages Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 2.142826 (0.000) 2.126479 (0.000) 1.895235 (0.000) lnwsag 0.3560053 (0.000) 0.3594587 (0.000) 0.419183 (0.000) lnwsnag 0.5203181 (0.000) 0.5187091 (0.000) 0.4846674 (0.000) 3rd Eq. lncondo Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 7.66644 (0.000) 7.420188 (0.000) 8.252266 (0.000) s1021_age 0.0000462 (0.987) -0.0005333 (0.840) 0.0042572 (0.224) s1041_hgc 0.0344578 (0.000) 0.0327889 (0.000) 0.0972984 (0.002) s1101_employed -0.0109756 (0.720) 0.030168 (0.302) -0.0811008 (0.009) lc10conwr 0.173369 (0.296) 0.234941 (0.151) -0.0362562 (0.860) 4th Eq. lnconab Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) Coefficients (P-value) constant 9.635422 (0.000) 9.760654 (0.000) 9.899007 (0.000) s1021_age 0.0025551 (0.394) 0.0034051 (0.195) 0.0140427 (0.003) s1041_hgc 0.0212975 (0.000) 0.0171248 (0.000) 0.1589354 (0.000) s1101_employed 0.1534522 (0.000) 0.1464836 (0.000) 0.0291422 (0.510) lc10conwr -0.484862 (0.011) -0.5302148 (0.004) -0.761339 (0.006) By using the 3SLS, the models are now corrected and it is free from any CLRM violations. Therefore, the table shown above is already the final model of estimation, and we can now interpret the results equation per equation basis. Check for equality and unit elasticity As indicated in the appendices (last part), we also check if there lnwages and lnconab in the food consumption equation are indeed equal. We used the test command in STATA, to see if the two variables are equal, by looking at its p-value. The resulting p-value of the test is 0.8614, meaning we have no evidence to reject the null hypothesis that the two variablesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ coefficients are equal. We made the same process for the lnwages and lncondo in the nonfood consumption equation, and the resulting p-value of the test is 0.6846, which means that lnwages and lncondo are also equal in the estimation. Aside from the check for equality, we also check if the lnconabà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s income elasticity to tobacco-alcohol consumption is equal to 1. The resulting p-value for the test is 0.8007, which means that the income elasticity of lnconab to tobacco-alcohol consumption is 1, meaning it is unit elastic. Results Model 1 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Food Consumption In the first model, which is the total food expenditure model, the variable domestic source of income in the 1st equation is considered to be statistically insignificant. This means that it will be meaningless to interpret the results of that particular variable. As for wages and foreign source of income, we can see that the two coefficients are very similar, which means that for every one percent increase in wages and foreign source of income, food consumption increases by 0.22 and 0.21 percent respectively. The results are clearly consistent with Engelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Law of food consumption that the proportion of food expenditure decrease as an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s income increases. For the 2nd equation, which is the wage equation, the result shows that the impact of non-agricultural activities is greater compared to agricultural activities. This is consistent with our a-priori expectation of one having a larger impact than the other. In reality, we can see that non-agricultural activities result to higher income due to its high value added products that it produces. The higher the value added the work is, the higher the changes are that wages or salaries received will be also higher. For the 3rd and 4th equation, which is considered to be similar except for the source of income where it comes from, the results show that only highest grade completed is considered to be statistically significant in the 3rd equation, while in the 4th equation, the household headà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s age is the only one which is statistically insignificant. For the domestic source of income, we can observed that people who has a larger share of the wages or salaries in the company, have typically higher educational attainment compared to those who have lower educational attainment. The result of the 3rd equation maybe attributed to that factor. For the 4th equation, it is the same explanation for the highest grade completed by the household head as in the 3rd equation. While for the total family members employed with pay, it has a positive relationship, simply because if there are larger number of family members who are working and receiving salaries, the cumulative source of income wi ll be larger, compared to those families who have fewer number of family members working with pay. The last variable in the 4th equation, which is the dummy variable contract worker, we can see in the result that if an individual is a contract worker, generally, that individual will receive lower wages compared to those regular employees. This is because contractual workers are given limited period of time to work for certain companies, and companies hire contractual workers for short term uses. With that, companies usually pay lower amount of wages to these short term workers. Model 2 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Non food consumption For the 2nd model, the nonfood consumption model, all the variables in the 1st equation are all statistically significant. The coefficients of wages and domestic source of income are similar, but there is a disparity between these two variables and the foreign source of income, which resulted to a higher coefficient. The higher coefficient means that the foreign source of income is more sensitive to nonfood consumption compared to the initial two variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" wages and domestic income. We can see in the result that a ho