The Effect of Minimum Wage Policy on Poverty Reduction Essay Example for Free

The Effect of Minimum Wage Policy on Poverty Reduction Essay 1 Introduction Minimum wage policies are widespread throughout the world. More than 90% of all countries have a minimum wage policy (International Labour Office, 2009, p. 34). Although the goals of mandating and maintaining a minimum wage, such as the reduction of poverty and the creation of income equality, are widely accepted around the world, there is a disagreement about the policy’s efficacy regarding these goals. Opponents of setting a minimum wage argue that it leads to unemployment, and it does not result in the reduction of poverty (Burkhauser Sabia, 2007, p. 263). Meanwhile, employment plays an important role in poverty alleviation, because it secures income and empowerment for the poor (United Nations, 2005). However, proponents of the minimum wage policy appoint that the policy leads to decrease in poverty rates and the unemployment effect is not significant (Lustig and McLeod, 1997). That means, there is controversy over the use of minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool, and this makes the topic interesting to study. This paper will evaluate the extent to which the minimum wage policy is an effective anti-poverty tool. The evaluation will be based on literary reviews of scientific articles and theoretical materials regarding the influence of minimum wage on employment and poverty. Such a focus is selected because studying the effect of minimum wage only on employment does not lead to a conclusion about the influence of minimum wage on poverty. Even if the unemployment effect is moderate, an increase in the minimum wage leads to net income losses for poor families (Neumark Wascher, 1997, p. 1). In addition, criteria such as the effect of minimum wage on employment and poverty level will be used for evaluation of efficacy of minimum wage policy as anti-poverty tool. The paper will be structured in the following way: section two will provide a summary of works related to the topic; in section three, the selected assessment criteria will be described; evaluation and the conclusion will be presented in section four and five respectively. 2 Theoretical framework A few empirical investigations were made to find evidence in favour or against the minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool. There are several research studies that demonstrate that the minimum wage policy is an ineffective means of achieving poverty reduction in many cases because of the unemployment effect . Neumark and Wascher (1997) conducted one such investigation. They studied the effect of minimum wage on poverty on the basis of changes in net income of poor families. The researchers discovered that raising minimum wages increases the probability that some poor families escape poverty and the probability that, initially, non-poor families fall into poverty. The discovered result supposes that the unemployment effect combined with minimum wage increases causes reductions in the income of previously non-poor families (Neumark Wascher,1997, p. 3). The conclusion of Neumark and Wascher (1997, p. 31) is that there is no strong evidence to support the idea that minimum wage policy helps in poverty alleviation because of the concomitant unemployment effect of minimum wage. Another research study was conducted on the basis of Brazilian microdata by Paes de Baros, Carlos, and Samir (as cited in Gindling Terrell, 2010). The result of the research showed that there was no effect of the minimum wage on poverty because the unemployment effects of the minimum wage increase. Pauw and Leibbrandt (2012) also decided to check the efficacy of minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool. To investigate the influence of the minimum wage policy on poverty in South Africa, they used an advanced micro-simulation model, which assesses the distribution of employment gains and losses and the implications for household income. The results showed that minimum wages led to a marginal decline of poverty. Moreover, job losses, price increase and income decline are more likely to affect the poorest. The investigators found that the minimum wage policy targets a small fraction of the poor. As such, they concluded that the policy was not an effective tool in South Africa because it was not well targeted (Pauw Leibbrandt, 2012, p. 780). However, there are few empirical research studies that prove that the minimum wage policy reaches the poor. The first estimates on the effect of minimum wages on poverty were made in the United States by Card and Krueger (as cited by Gindling Terrell, 2010). They used regression analysis to examine the change in the poverty rate of states from 1989 to 1991 and took into consideration only a small fraction of workers who were influenced by the minimum wage increase. The researchers found weak evidence of a modest poverty reduction effect because of the minimum wage increase. Lustig and McLeod (1997) also investigated the effect of the minimum wage on poverty but in Latin America and Asia. They concluded that an increase or fall in minimum wage leads respectively to a decline or increase in the poverty rates in developing countries (Lustig McLeod, 1997, p. 81). However, it was also noticed by the investigators that an increase in the minimum wage could increase slightly unemployment. (Lustig McLeod, 1997, p. 77). In addition, they mentioned that even if the minimum wage is shown to reduce poverty in the short run, employment opportunities could decrease in the long run. The result of research by Saget (2001, p. 22) shows that an increase in minimum wage reduces poverty; however, for a set of Latin American countries, where regression analyses were made on the basis of a one- or two-dollar poverty line, there was no effect on the poverty level. Moreover, they remark that the result confirms their intuition that minimum wages in developing countries do not influence the poorest population but the low-income population of the upper level instead. The empirical research of Gindling and Terrell (2010) regarding the influence of minimum wage on poverty in Honduras provided evidence that a raise in the minimum wage had a modest poverty-reducing effect. The results are true for the formal sector and could be higher, if there was no the unemployment effect in the formal sector. Moreover, the researchers suggested that those who lost jobs probably found jobs in the informal sector, where the minimum wage regulation does not hold power (Gindling Terrell, p. 915). Although in the majority of studies above, the unemployment effect of the minimum wage policy is mentioned, Card and Kruger (1994, In: Ropponen, 2011) discovered that a minimum wage increase can lead to an increase in employment. Such evidence they received by investigating fast food restaurants in New Jersey in 1992. Thus, there are several studies that provide evidence both in favour and against the minimum wage policy as anti-poverty tool. 3 Criteria Two criteria were selected for the evaluation of the extent to which the minimum wage is an effective tool for poverty alleviation: They are the influence of the minimum wage on the poverty level and its effect on the employment of the poor. The measuring of the effect of the minimum wage on the poverty level supposes focusing on the transition into poverty and out of poverty and the changes in poverty rates. Such a focus follows from the analysis of theoretical frameworks, where researchers used poverty rates (Gindling Terrell, 2010) or transitions out or into poverty for the evaluation of the influence of the minimum wage on poverty (Neumark Wascher, 1997). The employment effect of minimum wage criterion was selected because in the theoretical framework, the employment effect seems to be a critical factor that identifies the effectiveness of the minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool. For example, Samir, (as cited in Gindling Terrell, 2010) mentions that there is no effect of the minimum wage policy if the employment effect increases. These criteria will be applied by finding in the empirical investigations the evidence of the negative or positive changes in the poverty level and employment or the evidence of the absence of corresponding minimum wage influences. After that, evidence will be weighed, and a decision about the effectiveness of maintaining a minimum wage will be made. 4 Evaluation Although economists agree that the primary goal of minimum wage policy is poverty alleviation, many disagree about its effectiveness as an anti-poverty tool, as shown in section 2 of this paper. In this section, arguments for and against the policy were compared using criteria from section 3, evaluating the extent to which minimum wage served as an effective anti-poverty tool.

Physics of Caterpillar Tracks :: physics tank tracks

Every time you see one of the CATs clearing the hill at university of the snow, you probably don't see anything amazing about it. However, caterpillar tracks used on it are just ingenious and its invention is comparable to the invention of the wheel. History First vehicles powered by the steam engine started to appear in the early 1800s. Various machines started slowly replace horses. It was especially true for the jobs that required a lot of power. Transportation, of course, was the first and the most beneficial adopter. Goods could be carried across large distances with relative ease. No wonder that farmers were also eager to adopt engines. By that time most of the work was done using horses and basic tools. Problems Steam powered harvesters and tractors were introduced by the end of 19th century. It started to gradually replace horses. However in some regions they created new problems as well. Vehicles proved to be too heavy for soft soils and often stuck and even sunk. Experiments with various sizes of wheels didn't produce good results. Increasing size of wheels just made vehicles heavier and more difficult to operate. Benjamin Holt of Holt Manufacturing figured that using an old trick of pouting planks before the wheel would improve cross-country ability. By doing so, it provides solid plane for better traction and lower pressure on the ground since size of the plank is larger then of the wheel. Basics The main advantage of the track over the wheels is that it can distribute a very large force over a large area. That means that instead of applying all the force on little area where wheels touch the ground, it applies it over the whole area of the track. In physics terms it can be expressed as P = F / A where P is pressure, F is force and A is area. Less force applied to every square meter means that it's harder for the heavy vehicle to sink into the ground. Another benefit of the tracks is that large area of contact allows to have a very good traction with the ground. That is why tracks are used for mission critical jobs, including military use and high cost operations, such as excavations and space rocket movements. Drawbacks Even though caterpillar tracks provide very good cross-country ability, they have its drawbacks. Because of the weight and the construction of tracks speed of the vehicle is limited in comparison to the wheeled machines.

Information Technology in India Essay

India is one of the great standup country in the field of science and technology. every year india produces more than 500 thousands engineers. No doubt it is a bulk producers of scientists and technologists. Information Technology remain the backbone of the economical growth of India. and you can see it from the observed facts of exports. The share of IT in exports has increased by 17% from 1990 to 2001. IT based sectors such as Backoffice, remote maintainence, accounting, public service, medical, insurence and other bulk processiong fields are rapidly expending. Indian companies such as HCL, WIPRO, INFOSYS, TCS are today’s tough competitors for the other IT organizations. History of Information Technology in India The setup of IT in India was done by the Tata group in association with the Burroughs at Mumbai in 1967. The first software export zone SEEPZ was setup in 1973 this was what we can call the old avatar of the IT parks. at that time 80% of india’s software were exported from there. The indian government baughtEVSEM computers from soviat unions in 1968 which was used in big organizations only for the technological and scientific researchs. After the freedom of india in aug 1947 it was an economically beleaguered country. but due to the efforts of PM late. sir Jawaharlal Nehru india very repidly become a wide scientific work-field, such big that it was ranked 3rd after the USA and Soviat Unions. But due to the production of more engineers then country can consume the number of emigrants increased and this supported forigen countries to get a large step ahead from india. The most of the helping hands in the US’s scientific and technological improvement was Indian, in association with the california’s silicon valley. During this time the creation of new organization was in progress. with enhancement of IT in india some well known groups stood-up some of the names are, National Informatic Center, Tata infotech, Patni Computers, Wipro, Infosys etc. In 1991 Department of electronic created a corporation called Software Technology Parks of India which are owned by govt. of India. They provide VSAT communication. and after 1993 Govt. allowed pvt. companies to own dedicated links. VSNL was first to introduce Gateway E-Mail service with the 64kbps leased line service. It was the ministry of Atal Bihari Vajpai who significantly improved the IT in india by placing development of IT in the five major priorities and form National Task Force on IT and software development. and within 90 days of the creation of NTF the suggested 108 recommendation for IT sector. And new telecommunication policy IT Act 2000 was created for legal procedures of electronic transaction and e-commerce. Present Day Situation The present day situation of IT is a bit down due to the recession occurred in the market some year back but India is recovering very soon and IT sector id again on its running speed toward the progress. In the 2010 the economical revenue from the outsourcing operation of IT industry was US$ 54.33 billion which is greater then the other Asian country. and this revenue is expected to be raised up-to US$ 255billion in this decade. the major hub in IT in India is Bangalore which is also called silicon valley of India. beside this other emergind hubs are Delhi(NCR), Hydrabad, Chenni, Pune, Mumbai etc. The IT services has grown by 2.4 % in 2010 and is expected to grown at the rate of 4.2 % in 2011. according to the report of IDC in march 2010 india’s data center services had a revenue estimated upto US$1.39 billion. TRAI reported that country has more than 10 million broadband subscriber and these numbers will change into 100 millions by the 2014. and the market of PC in india has grown at the rate of 27% in the past year and of Notebook computers has grown with a rate of 52 % which is surprisingly a huge ratio as compared to other countries. India is seen as a business environment and is growing like pollution in the environment(i didn’t got other example of rapid growth rate). IT services and solution providers Patni computers has signed a deal of 32 million US$ with the a UK- based IT service provider. Firstsource solution has a deal with Barclaycard. vertex (CMO) has announced a joint venture with shell transource to address the domestic BPO. The market of the networking equipment in india is estimated to grow at a rate of 15 % till 2012as per reported in dec.2010. the net investment in the software and hardware market is of US$ 10,406 million according to department of industrial policy and promotion. An IT company EMC corp. will touch the investment of US$ 2 billion by 2014. A russian IT security company plans to invest 2 billion us$ in hydrabad in coming financial year. Still the Indian IT industry has no dead end in its way ahead. I wish for the continuous progress of IT in India. Note : the above discussed article is written on the basis of research on the various web resuorces. though I had tried to provide best, still there is no lack of knowledge on Internet for the subject of the same.

History and Definition of Human Rights in the U.S.

The term human rights refers to rights that are considered universal to humanity regardless of citizenship, residency status, ethnicity, gender or other considerations.  The phrase first became widely used due to the abolitionist movement, which drew on the common humanity of slaves and free persons. As William Lloyd Garrison wrote in the first issue of The Liberator,  In defending the great cause of human rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions and of all parties. The Idea Behind Human Rights   The idea behind human rights is much older, and its much harder to trace. Rights declarations such as the Magna Carta  have historically taken the form of a benevolent monarch granting rights to his or her subjects. This idea progressed in a Western cultural context toward the idea that God is the ultimate monarch and God grants rights that all earthly leaders should respect. This was the philosophical basis of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which begins: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Far from self-evident, this was a fairly radical idea at the time. But the alternative was to accept that God works through earthly leaders, a view that seemed increasingly naive as literacy rates increased and knowledge of corrupt rulers grew. The enlightened view of God as a cosmic sovereign who grants the same basic rights to everyone with no need for earthly intermediaries still anchored human rights to the idea of power — but at least it didnt place the power in the hands of earthly rulers. Human Rights Today   Human rights are more commonly viewed today as basic to our identities as human beings. Theyre no longer typically framed in monarchical or theological terms, and theyre mutually agreed upon on a more flexible basis. Theyre not dictated by a permanent authority. This allows for a great deal of disagreement regarding what human rights are, and whether basic quality-of-life concerns such as housing and health care should be considered part of the human rights framework. Human Rights vs. Civil Liberties   Differences between human rights and civil liberties are not always particularly clear. I had the opportunity to meet with several visiting Indonesian womens rights activists in 2010 who asked me why the U.S. does not use the terminology of human rights to address domestic concerns. One might speak of civil rights or civil liberties when discussing an issue like free speech or the rights of the homeless, but its rare for the U.S. policy debate to incorporate the terminology of human rights when discussing things that happen within the boundaries of this country. Its my feeling that this comes from the U.S. tradition of rugged individualism — conceding that the U.S. can have a human rights problem implies that there are entities outside the U.S. to which our country is accountable. This is an idea that our political and cultural leaders tend to resist, although its likely to change over time due to the long-term effects of globalization. But in the short term, applying the principles of human rights to U.S. controversies may provoke more fundamental arguments about the relevance of human rights principles to the U.S.There are nine fundamental human rights treaties to which all signatories - including the United States - have agreed to hold themselves accountable under the auspices of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. In practice, there is no fully-binding enforcement mechanism for these treaties. Theyre aspirational, much as the Bill of Rights was prior to the adoption of the incorporation doctrine. And, much like the Bill o f Rights, they may gain power over time. The phrase fundamental rights is sometimes used interchangeably with human rights, but it can also refer specifically to civil liberties.