History and Money Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History and Money - Research Paper Example Therefore, business is defined as the exchange of goods with others goods or services. Business have been conducted from the time of the agrarian revolution up to date by diverse generations using different mediums like exchange of goods and other good which is commonly referred to as the batter trade. After the invention of writing and numerical recording, humans are now able to conduct business and record it effectively. After that business has advanced where in the modern world people can carry out business activities while miles away over modern methods of communication. Money remains the most preferred and used medium of exchange in most business activities and transactions. This is mainly because money is easy to use and carry and also used as a measure of value. Money is categorised as one of the earliest and the most significant inventions of civilization; it is an important item of development of trade. Money has always been used as an important intermediary substance that enables the seller to have a wide selection of choice when and where he wishes to become a buyer. The earliest currency used in commercial transactions is recorded to have been used in Egypt and Mesopotamia the third millennium BC it manly consisted of gold bars. Latter they supplemented it by gold rings for smaller sums during the early civilization. The earliest ever known coins are believed to have come from the western world in a city named Ephesus in Ionia, which is located in present day western turkey about 650 BC. Croesus king of neighbouring Lydia was the first ruler to mint coins pure gold and pure silver. Paper currency made its first appearance in Europe in the 17th century where Sweden claims the priority. Today money is printed in a different currency where value is attached to each paper and also compared in diffract currency making it able for people to switch from one currency to the other owing to the value

Mergers and Acquisitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Mergers and Acquisitions - Essay Example A study conducted by UNCTAD (2006) shows that 17 percent of the FDI in the world comprise South-North and South-South flows and of this the cross-border acquisitions occupy a significant proportion. This project would look into the cross border acquisitions with an insight into the reasons driving the acquisitions and influential factors impacting such acquisitions. Factors motivating cross border acquisition Various theories have been developed that explain the significance of the mergers and acquisitions. According to Efficiency theories the main motive behind such deals is to exploit the benefits arising out of synergies or economies of scale. Market power theories highlight that acquisitions lead to oligopoly benefits. Agency theories state that the acquisition and acquisition deals mitigate agency problems like removing the inefficient managerial staff. This theory also states that it may also give rise to agency problems such as imprudent managerial decisions solely guided by t he motive of empire building. Besides this the acquisition deals are also guided by the advantages arising from the ‘benefits of diversification’. Though there is no single theory on mergers and acquisitions however these theories have garnered empirical support. Studies have shown that the shareholders of the target firm benefit the most in such deals whereas the shareholders of the bidder firm do not derive any immediate benefit from the deal. The abnormal return that that the bidders can enjoy is either slightly negative or zero. The combined return of the bidder-target firm is found to be universally positive indicating that the acquisition deals lead to value creation. It has also been seen that the stock price of the target firms’ exhibit higher returns in the case of cash offers as compared to the stock offers; hostile takeovers as compared to friendly takeovers; and multiple bidder as compared to contests by single bidders (Gregoriou & Neuhauser, 2007, p. 1). The success associated with the M&A deals has eluded many corporations. Marks & Mirvis (1998) state that the failure rates of such deals is around 50 to 75 percent. Despite the uncertainties associated with the deal the acquisition and acquisition deals are on the rise. The various benefits arising out of the deal include managerial synergies, cost synergies, market synergies etc. The sources of synergies include consolidated purchases, production, administration, marketing, market power, cross-selling, acquisition of technical expertise, patent, knowhow of the target, market expansion etc. In the horizontal acquisitions that involve integration of two companies belonging to the same sector the main motive is gaining market share of the target firm. This happens in the case of matured industries where the opportunities of growth are nearly exhausted, presence of excess capacity etc. Horizontal acquisitions result in enhanced revenue, savings in cost and better growth opportunit ies (Hitchner, 2006, p.106). The acquiring firm also gets a control over the customer base of the target firm thereby raising the total revenue base of the bidder firm.

Main differences between perfect competition and monopoly market Essay - 1

Main differences between perfect competition and monopoly market structures - Essay Example The sellers have the aim to provide the products and services as per the highest quality standards and at a minimum price as compared to the competitors. Since all the sellers have the same objective, it creates the scenario of perfect competition where the buyers have the highest bargaining power (McNulty, 1967). In a perfectly competitive market, it is very difficult to choose between the products and services sold in the market. The firms tend to maximize profits under the strict conditions of a perfectly competitive market where the buyers and the sellers are aware of all the information of the market. The barriers to entry and exit from the market is very less. The returns to the investments do not have large scope of enhancement in future (Marshall, 2006). The monopoly market structure resembles the form of market where a certain product or services is manufactured or supplied by a single firm. The monopoly market signifies minimal competition among the firms operating in the market. The buyers also have practically no options to avail substitute products and services. In a monopoly market structure, the business is the price setter and has the ability to charge high prices (Mankiw, 2011). The customers in a monopoly market has the lowest bargaining power as there is no availability of substitute products and services.The government encourage monopoly in certain sectors in order to provide economic benefits to the people by reduction of the market risk. The barriers to entry into the monopoly market is very high. In a monopoly market, it is observed that only one firm tends to dominate the market supply. The price discrimination is observed as characteristics of the monopoly market as the sellers vary the price of the products in comp arison to the quantity of the products (Hall and  Lieberman, 2009). In several jurisdiction, the monopoly form of market structure is prohibited in

Geology Volcanoes&Earthquake Assignment2 Assignment

Geology Volcanoes&Earthquake Assignment2 - Assignment Example "Back from the Dead" depicts the magnitude of damage that a volcanic activity can cause. The movie shows the eruption of Mt. St. Helens as one of the most catastrophic events that occurred in the United States. Both movies give viewers first-hand evidence that volcanic activity can cause economic and human loss. Various things such as disruptions lead to the eruption of hot magma and lava. But those are not the major lessons learnt. People who knew the background of Mt St. Helens were shocked by the events that followed. The events that take place, as shown by both movies, reveal that mountains that occur through volcanic means can reoccur. What is interesting is that a resurgence of plant and animal life invoked the mountain out of its dormancy. Additionally, the movie increase insight regarding causes of environmental and geological shifts, forces that spur eruptions. If geologists and people in general can gain better understanding of factors behind shifts, they prediction of futu re eruptions can become easy (Dale, Swanson, and Crisafulli, 7). Fire Mountain, on the other hand, presents a firsthand experience of one of the biggest natural catastrophes to have occurred that resulted in more 540 million tons of rock and ash being thrown out into the sky. The movie is talking about the same event as Back from the Dead is, but the details and accounts presented in this movie are different from the first one. The video, packed with evolutionary partiality, does not categorically mention how the ecological or geological features came about by the Mt. St. Helens’ eruption in 1980 parallel the creationist explanations more than the evolutionary theory. However, it gives a good account of what happened, especially with its interviews with survivors, and the viewer can easily draw apparent conclusions. This movie shows how seemingly old, stratified rock can form by

Assessing non-parametric or t tests Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assessing non-parametric or t tests - Assignment Example Student’s t-test for single mean is used to test a hypothesis on a specific value of the population mean. It is used to test the null hypothesis against the alternative hypothesis. The t-test for difference of means is used to test the hypothesis that two populations have the same mean. A paired t-test is usually used when the two samples are dependent- this happens when each individual observation of one sample has a unique relationship with a particular member of the other sample. A t-test for correlation coefficient is used for testing an observed sample correlation coefficient (r).Lastly, a t-test for testing significance of regression coefficient is used to test the significance of regression coefficients in linear and multiple regression setups. However no matter the type of t-test you use two assumptions have to be met. These assumptions are that the populations from which the samples are drawn are normal and the population standard deviation is not known. In this resea rch article unpaired t-test was used. Unpaired t-test which is also known as the student's t-test assumes that analyzed data is from a normal distribution. An unpaired test will need two independent groups to be applied and the sample size from the two groups may or may not be equal. In addition to the assumption that the data is from a normal distribution, there is also the assumption that the standard deviation (SD) is approximately the same in both groups. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY The research study is ‘The Effects of Vitamin B6 on the Liver of Diabetic Rats: A Morphological and Biochemical Study’ which was done by Sehnaz Bolkent, Ozlem Sacan, Ayse Karatug and Refiye Yanardag. It is a biological study where the aim of the research study was to examine the morphological and biochemical results of supplement B6 on liver organ cells of normal and streptozotocin-diabetic mice. A trial diabetic issue was caused by intraperitonal hypodermic injection of streptozotoci n (STZ) in a single amount of 65 mg/kg. Vitamin B6 was applied by subcutaneous hypodermic injection at an amount of 20 mg/kg for 15 times. The degenerative changes in the liver organ cells, biochemical changes in sugar stages and in serum aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) actions were identified. Degenerative changes were seen in the suffering from diabetic issues creatures by light microscopic research. Blood vessels sugar stages, serum AST, ALT and ALP actions improved in the suffering from diabetic issues group. On the other hand, the treatment with supplement B6 for 15 times changed these results. As a result, all of the acquired morphological and biochemical results led to the summary that supplement B6 has a safety effect against diabetic issues. DESCRIPTION AND CRITIQUE OF THE STATISTIC The biological results in this study were evaluated using unpaired t-test. The two variables used were control and control animals given v itamin B6. Both variables were subjected to the same conditions for a specified time of 15 days. The function unpaired test is used to compare two population means. Basically the main aim of this function is to test the null hypothesis that the two population means are equal or the same. The procedure to carrying out an unpaired t-test is first you have to calculate the difference between

Convey the story Essay Example for Free

Convey the story Essay Heloise and Abelard by James Burger has its place among the most famous biographies that were written about the pair of lovers who lived in Medieval Age, and which is based on the correspondence the two held. It opens a new perspective on the life of the Dark Ages, on its institutions and philosophies, and most of all, on its theology. The lovers who became the victims of the religious age they lived in, that could not admit their love, or any other type of love, for that matter, except religious love. The characters themselves are besides the initiators of free love, the ones who foresee the escape from the too rigid, rule-based religion of the Medieval centuries: â€Å"Let us read after this the famous Colloquy of Erasmus, The Franciscan, and we will find repeated all the essential ideas of Heloise: Christ preached but one religion, the same for layfolk and monks; the Christian renounces the world and professes to live only for Christ, and St. Paul did not preach this doctrine for monks but for everyone; layfolk, even the married, are bound to chastity and poverty quite as much as monks; in short, the only rule binding the Christian is the Gospel. Once she has adopted this course, Heloises frank and direct reason would not let her stop. Carried away by her own logic she was to touch, one after the other, almost all the critical points on which the humanists and reformers of the sixteenth century are so insistent. Why forbid meat to monks? Meat in itself is neither good nor bad. Let us not attach religious importance to things which in fact have none. Nothing counts save what can lead us to the kingdom of God. Let us forget, then, these exterior practices common to truly pious souls and to hypocrites, It is only interior acts that really count for the Christian. The rest is Judaism. † (Gilson, 132) Thus, the point that the story of Heloise and Abelard is trying to make, is that theirs was the one of the most tragic examples of the many failures of the Medieval Age, which persecuted through religion and rigid commandments, trough enclosing monasteries and punishments of all kind, instead of opening the road to what true spirituality means. The touching and tragic story of the lovers impresses because of the nobility of their thoughts and feelings, and also to the spectacular love story, which remains intense throughout their lives. Love is blended with the Christian doctrine, and the lovers try to find a bridge between the two, something that will only be found later in the history or religion, with the advent of humanism. 2. Explain who Heloise and Abelard were. What is their background and upbringing? What brings their paths together? Heloise and Abelard form one of the most famous couples known for their romantic love, so often compared to such immortal stories like that of Romeo and Juliet. However, their story is the real account of a twelfth century couple that lasted throughout the centuries both because of the unusual love story that united them, and also because of the startling sincerity and openness of the letters that favors a clear view of their characters and lives, and of the circumstances of the century they lived in. Pierre Abelard was a well-known philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages, whose studies have been concerned with mainly with logic and dialectics in the early years, and then with ethics and theology later on in his life. Of the account he himself gives of his early life in the letter addressed to his friend Philintus, we find that in his early youth he discovered his â€Å"natural genius for study†, and became â€Å"smitten with love for books†, so much so that he decided to renounce at once the fortune that father had bestowed on him as his eldest son, to his brothers and to dedicate himself entirely to learning. His passion and ambition to become a great logician soon brought him notoriety inside the circles of scholars, and he stood out as one of the most reputed teachers of his time. It is in the midst of his glory as a philosopher that the event that will change his life forever occurs: he sees Heloise, the niece of a certain Fulbert. She is belongs to a lower social class than he but she is equal in all else to him: she is literate and very learned, perhaps even surpassing him in depth of thought and feeling. All these were unique and very rare qualities in a medieval woman. Abelard concocts the perfect means of making her acquaintance, with a clear intention to conquer her and make her his mistress. He talks to the uncle, and after having offered him a sum of money, he obtains the latter’s assent to instruct his daughter as her teacher. Heloise, who has reason enough to admire him for his knowledge and brilliant mind, soon falls in love with him and becomes his lover, without the slightest resistance. It is here that their fascinating but tragic story actually begins. 3. Who was William of Champeaux? Discuss his influence in the life of Abelard. Why did Abelard achieve both acclaim and notoriety? Abelard has been, because of his originality of thought, in controversy with many of the philosophers of the age, among these, William of Champeaux, who began by being his teacher, but who was soon outwitted in the lectures he gave by his student. This naturally created animosity between the two, and it became even more founded when Abelard started teaching himself, and drew to his side most of the students that formerly had been instructed by Champeaux: â€Å"I put myself under the direction of one Champeaux, a professor who had acquired the character of the most skilful philosopher of his age, but by negative excellencies only as being the least ignorant! He received me with great demonstrations of kindness, but I was not so happy as to please him long; for I was too knowing in the subjects he discoursed upon, and I often confuted his notions. Frequently in our disputations I pushed a good argument so home that all his subtlety was not able to elude its force. It was impossible he should see himself surpassed by his scholar without resentment. It is sometimes dangerous to have too much merit. Envy increased against me in proportion to my reputation. † ( I) Abelard was many times an envied scholar, and later on, he was even accused of heresy for his ideas, by the enemies he always made in his circle. But, nevertheless, he became more and more notorious, because of the originality and novelty of his ideas, and especially because of his passion and ability for logic and argumentation. 4. How do Heloise and Abelard fall in love? What challenges must their relationship overcome? What were the consequences for both Abelard and Heloise? What is transcendent or universal about their love story? Together in the house of Heloise’s uncle, under the assumed masks of teacher and student, Heloise and Abelard begin their love story. As it becomes clear from Abelard’s own confessions in the letters to her, and from the imputations she brings on him, in her turn, the beginning of their of their affair was due more to his lust and incontinence rather than to his feelings for her: â€Å"Was it not the sole thought of pleasure which engaged you to me? And has not my tenderness, by leaving you nothing to wish for, extinguished your desires? Wretched Heloise! you could please when you wished to avoid it; you merited incense when you could remove to a distance the hand that offered it: but since your heart has been softened and has yielded, since you have devoted and sacrificed yourself, you are deserted and forgotten! † (II) Heloise however, seems to have given herself completely to her feelings to him, from beginning to end of their love story. After they remained together for the space of a few months, but their love was son discovered by Heloise’s uncle, who, enraged, demanded compensation from Abelard for his offense against the family honor. Abelard decides to marry Heloise, and when the latter becomes pregnant he sends her away to Britanny, to the care of his sister. The actual situation of the two lovers can not be fully comprehended without placing it in the Medieval context. Thus, it would perhaps seem natural to a modern reader that marriage be a solution for Abelard and Heloise, one that would confer legitimacy on their bond, both from the point of view of religion and from that of moral. However, this was not the case at all, for a few clear reasons. First of all, both Abelard and Heloise were both learned people, with such strict and high spiritual aspirations that they were incompatible with the idea of lay marriage. Abelard wanted for himself the kind of pure life that he admired in Saint Jerome or Seneca, and which would bring him the glory he longed for. For Heloise his glory would have been her glory too, so she was actually the one who withstood all she could the idea of marriage. In the strict sense of the world, according to the Medieval moral and religious laws, Abelard had the right to marry, without losing by this act the right to teach or his clerical dignity. The actual danger was that they, as all Medieval scholars, regarded marriage as a form of weakness and incontinence, that would inevitably and permanently drive a scholar away from his prayers and philosophical inquiries. Marriage was therefore considered degrading, and not a lot better than fornication for the ones who aspired to become theologians, because it had the same consequences – surrendering to sensual pleasures and forgetting one’s duty to God: â€Å"If therefore laymen and pagans have lived thus, without the restrictions of a religious profession, how much the more is it your duty to do so, you who are a cleric and a canon, lest you should come to prefer shameful pleasures to the divine service, lest you cast yourself into the gulf of Charybdis and perish, lest you should destroy yourself in these obscenities to the mockery of the whole world. (III) It is precisely in this conflict between their great passion and their aspiration for spiritual heroism, that the tragedy of Heloise and Abelard begins, even more so, when we consider that the spiritual ideals they tried to attain were not imposed on them from the outside, but were their own, and therefore as powerful as their love. It is this context that makes possible the famous and extraordinary statement of Heloise to Abelard, in which she declares that she would rather be his mistress or his prostitute than his wife: â€Å"You cannot but be entirely persuaded of this by the extreme unwillingness I showed to marry you, though I knew that the name of wife was honorable in the world and holy in religion; yet the name of your mistress had greater charms because it was freer. The bonds of matrimony, however honorable, still bear with them a necessary engagement and I was very unwilling to be necessitated to love always a man who would perhaps not always love me. † (II) As she herself declares it, Heloise believed in the disinteresedness of love, and considered, ahead of the time she lived in, that marriage does nothing to preserve the purity of love, but, on the contrary, makes it the slave of ambition or other advantages that are not love itself. Love is not to be confused with mere life or be put under the same necessities as the latter, as it would happen in a marriage, and this is seemingly what the story of Heloise and Abelard signified: a love that surpassed in intensity and nobility the limitations of simple life: â€Å"You have very justly observed in your letter that I esteemed those public engagements insipid which form alliances only to be dissolved by death, and which put life and love under the same unhappy necessity. ( )With what ease did you compose verses! And yet those ingenious trifles, which were but a recreation to you, are still the entertainment and delight of persons of the best taste. The smallest song, the least sketch of anything you made for me, had a thousand beauties capable of making it last as long as there are lovers in the world. Thus those songs will be sung in honor of other women which you designed only for me, and those tender and natural expressions which spoke your love will help others to explain their passion with much more advantage than they themselves are capable of. † (IV) Heloise already takes pride in their love story as something universal that will be used as a ground for comparison for future couples who will be bound by so great a love. The two loved each other with such great ardor and nobility, that their love is pure in spite of their sin. In spite of Heloise’s noble attitude that can not consent either to the loss of glory by the man she loves or to the degrading of noble and free love by binding it to the hearse of marriage, the two eventually contract a â€Å"secret marriage†, a compromise imposed by Abelard, so as not to lose Heloise but at the same time, to maintain his respectfulness in public. Abelard sends his wife to the monastery of Argenteuil to avoid further rumors about their marriage, already dressing her in the nun habit, without knowing that she will wear it forever afterwards . The climax of these happenings comes with the barbaric act of revenge that Heloise’s uncle commits. He bribes the servants of Abelard and these allow for someone to enter the room of their master by night and castrate him. This terrible and symbolic revenge is perhaps what made the love story between Heloise and Abelard legendary. Afterwards, they both retire in convents, Heloise being the first to put on the veil, at Abelard’s command, who not being able to posses her anymore, shuts her up from the world in his jealousy, so that she might never belong to anyone else. This is perhaps the greatest and incontestable act of love and sacrifice she performs for him, surrendering herself completely, and renouncing the greatest thing for him: not the world, as he thought, but him, the man she loved. Their love becomes transcendental and universal through the very passion that fettered them when they were together, but which also manifested itself in their acts of renouncement.

European Studies Essays Welfare State and the European Nations

European Studies Essays Welfare State and the European Nations Welfare State and the European Nations â€Å"The phrase ‘welfare state’ was first used in the late 1930s, to distinguish between the policies of the democracies and the war state of European dictators† (Spicker, 2003). From the late nineteenth century, features of a welfare state began emerge in parts of Western Europe. The first European country to put in place a welfare state was Germany in 1883. The then Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck introduced a mandatory national accident and sickness insurance law. The insurance was financed by state subsidy (Spicker). A welfare state is â€Å"a state where more than one half of all government expenditures are devoted to social policy, as opposed to the economy, the military, law and order, infrastructure and other traditional functions of the state† ( Spicker, 2003). Judt (2006) defines a welfare state as a state which is primarily concerned with dispensing welfare to its citizens. Such states spend the bigger proportion of their public expenditures on welfare. Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers According to Gough (2006), welfare states in Europe were established during the Second World War. Their main purpose was to tackle the five evil giants that were facing most of Europe at that time. These evils included: Poverty: Because of the war, many people were sick, jobless or widowed hence were poor. Diseases: Despite many people being sick, they could not afford to seek treatment. Ignorance: At that time, school-leaving age was 11. Most children were forced to drop out of schools because they could not afford to pay fees. Squalor: Majority of the population lived in poor housing facilities (slums) because council houses were inadequate. Idleness: As a result of the war, most people lost their jobs and became unemployed. The welfare state was therefore established to ensure that children stayed in school; free medical treatment for all was introduced; new council houses were built and more towns established to provide better housing facilities to the slum dwellers and more industries were started to help reduce the unemployment rate. There are several objectives of a welfare state. Equitable distribution of wealth and resources: Welfare states used progressive method of tax collection whereby people with higher incomes paid more taxes and those with lower incomes paid less tax. This method of taxation helped in reallocation of public money and shifting of resources from the resource-rich regions to resource-poor regions. This was effective in achieving regional balance and in narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor (Spicker, 2003). Income and standard of living maintenance: People can temporarily or permanently be rendered incapable participating in the labor market. This can be due to old age, or sickness. This normally results in loss of income for themselves and their families. But in a welfare state, income maintenance was assured whether or not someone was working. This was normally â€Å"achieved through a variety of public insurance schemes,† (Judt, 2006). These included deductions from an employee’s salary, contributions made by the employers and the state. These deductions and contributions were deposited into an insurance fund from which individuals were entitled to certain benefits, depending on the level and the number of contributions made. These â€Å"insurance schemes covered unemployment, sick pay and old age pensions,† (Gough, 2006). Helping the disadvantaged groups: welfare states started programs to assist those groups that were considered worse-off than others. Gough (2006) says that: For instance, European countries have taken specific measures to combat rural poverty; support families with children; provide for re-training and early retirement in industrial problem regions; assist especially those with structural employment problem (the long-term and older unemployed; youth unemployment). Provision of a public safety net was another objective of welfare states. Welfare States ensured that each individual enjoyed â€Å"a minimal level of decent human existence if no other resources are available,† (Gough, 2006). In the pre-industrial era provision for such individuals was mainly done by â€Å"local charities, communities, nobleness oblige, and the churches †¦ on a much smaller scale† (Gough). Most Welfare States used their welfare policy as a form of economic governance. According to Gough (2006), â€Å"the economies of continental Europe, often called organized market economies, are characterized by a more pronounced role for the government in the economy †¦.† Unlike in other states, the different economic sectors were usually in harmony rather than in competition with each other. This contributed to the overall economic organization and stability, and is the reason why such economies were often labeled ‘organized market economies.’ Welfare states put up policies aimed at poverty eradication. Such programs included Medicaid and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). However, such programs were not popular among the majority of the population because they only served the marginalized people who comprised a smaller proportion of the population. The creation and development of the welfare state followed different patterns in each of the European countries. The men behind the European welfare state shared Keynes’s view which he voiced before his death in 1946. Keynes said that â€Å"after the World War II, there would be a craving for social and personal security in Europe. And there was. The welfare state was constructed primarily as a security revolution rather than a social revolution,† (Judt, 2006) The German welfare system was based on the three main principles. The first one was â€Å"subsidiarity.† This principle holds that â€Å"services should be decentralized or independently managed† (Spicker, 2003). The role of the state was limited only to areas which could not be covered by other means like military services. In Germany, high income earners were not covered by the main social insurance system; they were left to make their own decisions. Economic development was another principle surrounding the German welfare system. Provision of social services was based on this principle. This was clearly evident in â€Å"the close relationship of services to people’s position in the labor market. Social benefits were earnings-related, and those without work records found that they were not covered for important contingencies† (Spicker, 2003). Additionally, the state’s spending on welfare had to be directly related to the principle of economic development and growth. Welfare state in Germany was originally established by Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck who introduced the principle of ‘corporatist structure’. According to Spicker, 2003: This principle was developed by Bismarck on the basis of existing mutual aid associations, and remained the basis for social protection subsequently. Social insurance, which covered the costs of health, some social care and much of the income maintenance system, was managed by a system of independent funds. The French system of welfare was regarded as the most generous welfare system. It involved provision of a wide range of social services, rendering it very complex and expensive to maintain it. In France, the welfare system was â€Å"based on the principle of solidarity,† which was declared in the first article of the French Code of Social Security (Spicker, 2003). However, the term â€Å"solidarity† was ambiguous and was used in different circumstances to mean different things. To some people, solidarity referred to cooperative mutual support whereby people who benefited from national welfare schemes were expected to contribute on an equal basis. To others, solidarity meant interdependent relationships, â€Å"common action, mutual responsibility and shared risks† (Spicker, 2003). The Swedish Welfare System was viewed as an ideal form of welfare state. The system offered institutional care in that it offered â€Å"a universal minimum† (Judt, 2006). Like all welfare states, the Swedish government offered benefits to the unemployed, the sick people, and retired citizens. However, for a long time this welfare system was not effectively practiced because as Judt (2006) says, â€Å"the Swedish population had a strong tradition of entrepreneurship and hard work and continued to work hard even though they now had the option to live off government.† However, with time, people adapted to the welfare system. The welfare state of the United Kingdom was established by William Beveridge in 1942. The aim of the state was to curb the social problems that British citizens were facing due to the effects of the Second World War. The government took the responsibility of providing for its people. This policy resulted in high government expenditure and an increase in the state’s key responsibilities. In addition to the provision of the basic services (education, health, housing and employment) the state also increased â€Å"regulation of industry food and redistributive taxation† (Gough, 2006). Most Welfare States did not last long because of various reasons. The first major reason was the nature of taxation and the salary structure. In most welfare states, the social benefits and salaries for the low-skilled workers were among the highest in the world, whereas those for the high-skilled workers were lower compare to those of other countries. Additionally, the high-skilled workers paid much higher taxes than the low–skilled workers. This attracted more low-skilled workers into these states, becoming a burden to the Welfare State. The issue of immigration also led to the collapse of the welfare state. Because of the social benefits a welfare state offered, it attracted people from the low income countries. Fjordman (2006) notes that â€Å"†¦ they experienced †¦ disintegration with the introduction of mass immigration of persons who did not have the cultural background necessary to uphold the welfare state.† Lastly, the nature of the services that a welfare state provided contributed to its collapse. Education and health services especially are â€Å"ones on which people wish to spend more money as they become richer. Old age and retirement pensions imply that the government would have to spend more as the population ages† (Fjordman, 2006). Because of this, the ratio of public spending to Gross Domestic Product was high and it became practically impossible to meet all the social demands of its citizens. REFERENCES Fjordman, C. The Welfare State: The Root of Europe’s Problems. The Brussels Journal. 2006, March 08 Gough, I. European Welfare States: Explanations and Lessons for Developing Countries. University of Bath http://64.233.169.104/search? Judt, T. The Future of Decadent Europe. The Globalist. 2006, June 02. Spicker, P. The Welfare State. Centre for Public Policy and Management: Robert Gordon University http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/wstate.htm