The Highs and Lows of the Wild Year of Bitcoin Essay Example For Students

The Highs and Lows of the Wild Year of Bitcoin Essay Hamza Shaban, a writer for The Washington Post, discusses the noteworthy events of the life of bitcoin in his article, â€Å"The Highs and Lows of the Wild Year of Bitcoin.† Bitcoin, a type of currency that can be used online, has accomplished a lot in 2017. In the past year, a type of worldwide payment system arose out of the shadows and gained massive amounts of popularity. At the beginning of 2017, one bitcoin was worth $973. This may have already seemed like a lot, but it isn’t compared to what it would soon become. It’s value then had increased by more than 15 times, so it was worth $14,670 by December. Shaban explains that this can be accredited to its rise in popularity: The more people invest, the higher its price is. Bitcoin, however, did not always have positive accomplishments. We will write a custom essay on The Highs and Lows of the Wild Year of Bitcoin specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Shaban adds that near the end of the year, bitcoin’s value would decline by thirty percent in just one day. The digital currency would have many positive effects, but possible more negative effects on people. People are doing rather dicey things because of bitcoin fever. Bitcoin is a type of asset that is unpredictable and liable to change. People, though, are still eager to invest and purchase it. Christian Catalini believes that â€Å"People should consider this as a form of gambling† (qtd. In Shaban). As if all of this â€Å"gambling† wasn’t enough, Shaban says that several businesses are changing their names to contain the word â€Å"blockchain† which he defines as â€Å"the technology that drives the virtual currency† (Shaban). Their strategies were successful, though. The stock price of Long Blockchain (formerly Long Island Iced tea) tripled and On-Line Blockchain PLC’s shares increased by about 400 percent when the news of their name change arose. While bitcoin affected many individuals and businesses positively, many did not experience a positive outcome from bitcoin and people are having to keep their eye on it. Bitcoin was hacked at the beginning of December, many lost their information to access bitcoin, and regulations are beginning to be placed on bitcoin. Shaban explains that $70 million worth of bitcoin were stolen by hackers. Also, he shares that many investors have forgotten or lost their access information causing them to go to extremes to get their money back. Aside from this, the U.S. government is beginning to monitor the use of bitcoin. Shaban states that other countries like Australia, Japan, and South Korea have been placing regulations on bitcoin this year.These regulations, however, would serve as a way to protect people from bitcoin’s possible negative outcomes and they are a sign that bitcoin may be the beginning of a new era of payment. Because of bitcoin, cryptocurrency may become a more popular form of exchange. â€Å"As bitcoin moves closer to mainstream applications, Catalini sees new forms of centralization taking hold, such as the rise in popularity and influences of cryptocurrency exchanges, because consumers tend to prefer products that are convenient and accessible† (Shaban). Shaban reiterates Catalini’s prediction about the future of cryptocurrency. Since people like to have everything available at their fingertips, bitcoin is perhaps what the world needed to move currency into technology like so many parts of our lives. The Highs and Lows of the Wild Year of Bitcoin Essay Example For Students The Highs and Lows of the Wild Year of Bitcoin Essay Hamza Shaban, a writer for The Washington Post, discusses the noteworthy events of the life of bitcoin in his article, â€Å"The Highs and Lows of the Wild Year of Bitcoin.† Bitcoin, a type of currency that can be used online, has accomplished a lot in 2017. In the past year, a type of worldwide payment system arose out of the shadows and gained massive amounts of popularity. At the beginning of 2017, one bitcoin was worth $973. This may have already seemed like a lot, but it isn’t compared to what it would soon become. It’s value then had increased by more than 15 times, so it was worth $14,670 by December. Shaban explains that this can be accredited to its rise in popularity: The more people invest, the higher its price is. Bitcoin, however, did not always have positive accomplishments. We will write a custom essay on The Highs and Lows of the Wild Year of Bitcoin specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Shaban adds that near the end of the year, bitcoin’s value would decline by thirty percent in just one day. The digital currency would have many positive effects, but possible more negative effects on people. People are doing rather dicey things because of bitcoin fever. Bitcoin is a type of asset that is unpredictable and liable to change. People, though, are still eager to invest and purchase it. Christian Catalini believes that â€Å"People should consider this as a form of gambling† (qtd. In Shaban). As if all of this â€Å"gambling† wasn’t enough, Shaban says that several businesses are changing their names to contain the word â€Å"blockchain† which he defines as â€Å"the technology that drives the virtual currency† (Shaban). Their strategies were successful, though. The stock price of Long Blockchain (formerly Long Island Iced tea) tripled and On-Line Blockchain PLC’s shares increased by about 400 percent when the news of their name change arose. While bitcoin affected many individuals and businesses positively, many did not experience a positive outcome from bitcoin and people are having to keep their eye on it. Bitcoin was hacked at the beginning of December, many lost their information to access bitcoin, and regulations are beginning to be placed on bitcoin. Shaban explains that $70 million worth of bitcoin were stolen by hackers. Also, he shares that many investors have forgotten or lost their access information causing them to go to extremes to get their money back. Aside from this, the U.S. government is beginning to monitor the use of bitcoin. Shaban states that other countries like Australia, Japan, and South Korea have been placing regulations on bitcoin this year.These regulations, however, would serve as a way to protect people from bitcoin’s possible negative outcomes and they are a sign that bitcoin may be the beginning of a new era of payment. Because of bitcoin, cryptocurrency may become a more popular form of exchange. â€Å"As bitcoin moves closer to mainstream applications, Catalini sees new forms of centralization taking hold, such as the rise in popularity and influences of cryptocurrency exchanges, because consumers tend to prefer products that are convenient and accessible† (Shaban). Shaban reiterates Catalini’s prediction about the future of cryptocurrency. Since people like to have everything available at their fingertips, bitcoin is perhaps what the world needed to move currency into technology like so many parts of our lives.

buy custom Auditing and Assurance essay

buy custom Auditing and Assurance essay Auditor independence means freedom of internal or external auditor from individuals who many have financial interests in the company being audited (Auditor Independence 2010). The concept of independence requires an auditor to undertake his/her audit work, without any interference by any other party, and with an aim of verifying if, the financial statements of a business reflect the true and fair view of the business (Auditor Independence 2010). Moreover, auditors independence requires an objective and honest approach to the audit process. To external auditors, the concept of auditor independence is very important. This is because; many stakeholders such as investors, creditors, the government, and employees, use audit reports, to make important economic decisions. Independence of external auditor means autonomy from individuals, who may have substantial interests in the published financial reports of a business/company (Auditor Independence 2010). In many cases, independence of external auditors from such individuals is ensured by the audit committee of the given client company. Moreover, external auditors source their support for autonomy from the contractual and contract references of the public accounting standards, which provide that external auditors should be independent from the management (including the directors) of their client companies/businesses (Auditor Independence 2010). The International Auditing Standards (IASs) also requires external auditors to observe independence in various areas. For instance, external auditors are required to report only to the audit committee of the client company/business (Auditor Independence 2010). These include, reporting matters related to revision of audit fee and approval of certain types of non-audit services. In fact, the International Auditing Standards prohibit external auditors from providing non-audit services such as internal audit outsourcing services, bookkeeping, asset valuation, and designing of clients financial system. Moreover, external auditors are prohibited from having direct equity ownerships in their clients companies/businesses. In addition, external audits should not engage in activities, which are closely related to management functions. Other requirements related to the independence of external auditor include being solely involved in determining the scope and extent of their work, conducting fr equent rotations of certain audit personnel during the engagement, and not acting as an advocate for an audit client or any of its directors/managers (Auditor Independence 2010). External auditors are required to confirm their independency in writing, once they agree to undertake the audit engagement, to the audit committee of the client company/business. In cases where an external auditor fails to adherence to the independence requirements, the respective professional body, the government, through the court of law, or the client company/business can take a corrective action. This may include cancellation of practicing certificate, suspension from engagement, imprisonment, or cash fines (Auditor Independence 2010). Theoretically, external auditors play important roles in safeguarding the interests of the shareholders of client companies. In addition, external auditors role in auditing financial reports plays a significant role in corporate governance whereby, they ensure that managers are accountable to the shareholders in all business aspects related to the company (Ojo 2006). Despite the importance of the external audit function to the shareholders, and the requirement that an external auditor should not have direct personal interests in the clients company/business, they have been seen to develop commercial and personal interests while undertaking audit engagements in their clients companies/businesses (Ojo 2006). Over the past few decades, many questions concerning external auditors independence have evolved. According to Hunton and Rose, one of the major sources of interference of external auditors independence is the directors (2008). Hunton and Rose observe that directors of many companies/businesses usually act as directors in more than two companies/businesses. Therefore, they only have less time to concentrate on monitoring the performance of their companies. Mostly, they concentrate on the reputation they achieve from the public (investors, business owners, shareholders, and creditors), concerning their success in managing numerous entities. Therefore, in order to maintain their reputation, they usually try to make sure that the financial reports of the entities where they are directors always represent positive performance, even when such performance is not achieved. Directors achieve this is by influencing the work of external auditors. Directors interested in maintaining their reputations interfere with external auditors independence in differen ways. One of these ways is to limit the scope of external auditors during audit engagement (Huston and Rose 2008). For instance, the directors may be involved in determining the scope of auditors work during the engagement, by identifying the specific areas where the auditors should conduct their investigations, and the areas, where they should not conduct investigation. Such areas include directors fees, use of business assets, such as motor vehicles, by the directors for personal reasons, and directors allowances among others. Many directors usually prohibit auditors from conducting investigation is such areas because; they do not usually present a true and fair view of the entities financial position (Huston Rose 2008). It is common to see directors receive huge allowances for meetings, which never attend. In other cases, directors use entities motor vehicles to conduct their personal businesses. All these activities amount to violation of directors code of conduct, as well as illegal use of entities resources for personal gain. If auditors were allowed to conduct audit engagement without interference of their independence by the directors, they would definitely discover these activities, and consequently report them during their audit reports to the shareholders. Publication of such reports can potentially ruin directors reputations, hence resulting into fewer opportunities to hold directorial positions in other entities, or dismissal from the boards of entities where he/she holds directorial positions. This would mean that such a director would lose his/her sources of income. Moreover, the negative reputation would prevent him/her from seeking directorial positions in other entities in future. In order to prevent this from happening, directors ensure that the scope of external auditor is limited. In return, they may get into mutual agreements with the auditors. In many occasional, external auditors tend to take the offers presented to them by the directors as a way of protecting their commercial interests (earning more income). According to Huston and Rose, common offers made to external auditors include increased audit fee and continued audit engagement in the entity (2008). Even though the audit committee, in many cases, mainly determines audit fee, the directors and the audit committee members work in liaison to protect their reputation among the stakeholders. Therefore, the directors can easily influence the auditors pay. Similarly, directors can ensure continuous engagement of the current audits by ensuring that their reputation among the shareholder s is positive. In the their study, Hunton and Rose also observed that in other occasions, directors allow the auditors to provide non-audit services, inclusive of those that are prohibited by the International Auditing Standards, to enable them earn extra income from the entities (2008). This usually happens when the directors require the auditors not to disclose all the relevant information to the shareholders, or when the directors require the auditors to present an unqualified audit report even when the audit evidence indicates that the report should be qualified. Another area where Huston and Rose observed significant interference of auditors independence by the directors is in restatement of earnings (2008). Sometimes, the auditors may require restatement of previous financial statements, after they discover significant omission of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAPs) or a significant loophole in the internal control systems. Since restatement of financial statements has adverse effects on the value of shares, directors tend to object restatement of previous financial statements (Huston Rose 2008). Moreover, since restatement of financial statements indicate weakness in corporate governance (lack of competence among the audit committee members), audit committees also interfere with the independence of external auditors during such situations. The audit committee may face dismissal, or even legal actions in case of restatement of financial statements. Likewise, the directors may lose their current and future board seats. For these reasons, both the directors and the audit committee interfere with the independence of external auditors in bid to secure their positions in various entities. Studies indicate that, the recent cases of fallen firms were due to interference of external auditors independency by the board of directors, and the audit committees (Lindberg Beck 2002). In many cases, the directors and the audit committee members tend to protect the interests of the shareholders insufficiently, through interfering with the auditors independency. A very good illustration of such a firm is Enron. Enron was declared bankrupt in December 2001 (Lindberg Beck 2002). According to Lindberg and Beck, Enron collapse was because of direct actions of the directors, audit committee, andd the external auditors (2002). During the previous years, Enron had been recording negative earnings (Lindberg Beck 2002). The firms financial statements also indicated that the firm had been substantially violating the accounting principle of materiality. Large volume of transactions would be omitted from the financial records, and hence in the final financial statements. Studies also indic ate that, Enron had violated other accounting standards concerned with accounting for business combinations and revenue recognition (Lindberg Beck 2002). During the external audit, the directors in liaison with the audit committee would lure the firms auditors with high audit fee and non-audit services. In fact, Lindberg and Beck point that the accounting firm that was providing external audit services to Enron was earning more fees from provision of non-audit services, than it was earning from audit services (2002). In return, the auditors could provide unqualified audit reports. This trend continued for quite a long time until when the irregularities were finally discovered. Unfortunately, by the time of the discovery, all the firms financial resources had been drained It was then declared bankrupt. Enron is an example of other numerous cases of big multinational and local companies, which have collapsed due to interference of auditors independence by the directors and the audit committees. Some individuals argue that directors interfere with the independence of external auditors in order to protect the interests of the shareholders. For instance, in Enrons case, the directors feared that if they allowed the auditors to present qualified audit reports during the annual general meetings, the shareholders would lose faith in the company, and would opt to withdraw their investments from the firm. This could have been a great disappointment especially to the firms biggest shareholders. However, Zawada argues that interference of auditors independence in the name of protecting shareholders interests is not a justified (n.d.). Instead, directors and audit committee members should allow the external auditors to undertake their work independently, so that they would be able to unveil areas within a firm/business entity, where corrective actions need to be taken as soon as possible before the problems become dire. If auditors are allowed to work independently, most of the major causes of business collapse can be controlled during their development stages. Accordingly, Zawada states that lack of interference with auditors independence is the best way of protecting shareholders interests (n.d.). However, since many directors and audit committee members would rather safeguard their reputations among the stakeholders, than to allow the auditors present a true and fair view of the financial position to the shareholders, then it is clear the interference of auditors independency will not cease in the near future. In the same way, due to their commercial interests, the accounting firms will continue to allow interference of their independence during audit engagement by the directors and audit committee members. It is therefore clear that the shareholders will continue to lose, as the directors and the external auditors continue to fulfill their personal and commercial interest. According to Ojo, external audit processes are costing the shareholders a lot of money, yet they are of no importance to them (2006). In fact, Ojo points out that, external audit processes leave the shareholders worse off, than they would be if, external audits were not conducted. This is because; auditors tend to manipulate the financial statements and reports in favor of the directors and the audit committee members. In the end, shareholders use the published and audited financial statements and/or reports, to make important economic decisions. For instance, an unqualified audit report, which ought to be qualified, may indicate good financial performance of a given business entity. As a result, a shareholder makes a decision to invest substantial amounts of money in the entitys stocks, hoping to reap huge in terms of dividends and capital gains. In the long run, the shareholders does not earn any dividends, neither does he/she earns capital gains from sale of the stock, since in mo st cases, negative performance affects the price of an entitys stocks in the market. Therefore, from a personal perspective, the external audit function serves no important purpose to the shareholders. Since they usually serve their own interests and those of the directors, at the expense of the shareholders, their roles in public owned and limited liability entities should be removed. Instead, shareholders can invest the money used to pay external shareholders, in the internal audit departments, since so far, the internal departments have proofed to make significant contributions to the shareholders interests. Buy custom Auditing and Assurance essay

US government assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

US government assignment - Essay Example The bill necessitates freezing the Ohio Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard at existing degree, by the end of 2016. Senate Bill 310 also intends to minimise the general renewable energy targets by 2025 and permit every Ohio renewable energy source to be acquired from efficient plants, even if they are positioned outside Ohio. The bill controls the state energy effectiveness and mandates in minimising the use of renewable energy. The proposed bill has therefore been argued to require creating a special committee, which will determine the level of cost to the customers for mandated energy efficiency plans and renewable energy plants such as wind energy and solar energy. The bill also necessitates state regulators to enact new regulations for unveiling the expenses for electric utility on every customer’s electric bill. The bill requires implementation of electric utilities (such as energy efficient equipments and lighting) for assisting customers to minimise their overall ener gy consumption. The bill also mandates energy generation organisations to reduce overall demand and peak demand of power by efficiency measures by 22% within 2025 (Funk, 2014). Renewable energy in Ohio signifies electricity generated by wind turbines. Nevertheless, ending Ohio’s inner state energy mandate would permit state’s energy utilities to seek inexpensive wind generated power from other states, such as Minnesota and Iowa. Such movement in turn would force wind energy manufacturers in Ohio to compete for better and inexpensive energy generation or find other markets to sell the energy. The bill can therefore be regarded as a compromise between those who desire to eradicate energy efficiency regulation and those who desire no change in regulation (Heindl Server GmbH, 2010). Apart from ending in-state mandate of energy, SB 310 would freeze the renewable energy effectiveness standard. In relation to the bill, several legislators stated that wind energy

Consumer Behaviour- Redbull Case Study questions

Consumer Behaviour- Redbull questions - Case Study Example Through the marketing strategy of employing thrill into the advertisements, the company targets the young generation to consume the drink as a supplement to the adrenaline inducing sports. Such market segmentation has allowed the company to merge its natural consumer base with its targeted market. In the future, Red Bull’s most beneficial marketing strategy would be to segment the market based on consumers and innovation specifically rather than brute sponsorship based advertisement. Targeting a behavioural segment that is divided in to the groups of those who regularly, for example, go to gym or those that work in tough environments in the same age limits; it would be wiser, as per Walker’s (2006) research, to spend more marketing funds on those who are behaving in a more favourable way to consume the product. For example a 20 year old who goes to gym is more open to Red Bull’s advertisements than a 20 year old who works in a print shop. By specifically targetin g behaviour based market segments, Red Bull’s future marketing can further be optimized in line with the company’s current policy without interfering with other policies like those of thrill based advertisement. ... Starting from distributing free cases of the energy drink at gyms, schools and different buildings where they could find their consumer base, the Red Bull started with a viral advertising policy. The success of the viral advertisement resulted in rapid growth in sales. The motivations of consumers were based on their own needs, or their own needs as shown by the company. The need to re energize at work, gym, construction sites and other advertised areas has shown to be a consumer need by the Red Bull and often the Red Bull consumers are compared with non consumers in advertisements. The comparison often either implies the lack of energy in the individual and the inability to perform properly without re energizing or shows extra abilities in the individual consuming the product. The moto â€Å"No Red Bull, No Wings† clearly backs up this concept. Furthermore, by sponsoring highly thrilling race competitions, both on air and ground, the motivation to use the product is further a roused in the consumer base, both psychologically and as a way to try the product for the new consumers by creating a ‘buzz’. Describe the Brand Personality of Red Bull. Why do you think the concept of brand personality is so important to Red Bull? Being an energy drink aimed at the youth, Red Bull has developed a bold brand personality of a strong bull as depicted by its logo. The brand personality of the energy drink implies the traits of the type of boost it claims to give the consumers; strength, energy, physical resistance, quicker reaction time and improved mood. Giving an emotional character and association to the brand’s image, the company has devised a strategy

Management & Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Management & Organisation - Essay Example The desire to function is motivation. Motivation refers to psychological aspects that have the ability to arouse in an individual the literal desire to achieve set goals besides sustaining, controlling, and eliciting specific goal-oriented behaviors (Kleinbeck, et. al., 2013). According to Miner (2012), Motivation plays three significant functions; assisting employees to understand their behavior, assisting managers to build and manage an effective motivation system, and provides conceptual tools for identification and analysis of various motivation problems. The following are some of the aspects of motivation within an organization. Discussions Needs Theories Indisputably, motivation revolves around behaviors and needs. Since motivation aims at the needs of the employees, various need theories towards motivation have been proposed. Examples of such needs theories include Murray’s theory of Human Personality, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, McClelland’s Achievement Motivation theory, and Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene theories. Kleinbeck, et. al. (2013) add that within the contemporary environment there have been classifications that include cognitive and behavioral theories. Theories in these categories include expectancy, equity, goal setting, and behavior modification theories. Murray’s theory of human personality focuses on two forms of needs; physical and psychological. In this theory, both physical and psychological needs are a link connecting stimulus and employee’s reaction to the same (Kunitz, 2011). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory on the other hand focuses on five basic groups of necessities or basic needs. Maslow believes that these needs are so basic that every employee is motivated to achieve them (Kunitz, 2011). The needs include physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. E.R.G. theory focuses on three groups of needs; existence, relatedness, and growth. The need for achievement, p ower, and affiliation form the epicenter of McClelland’s achievement motivation theory (Kunitz, 2011). Lastly, Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene theory focuses on the satisfiers and dissatisfies. In this theory the motivators include achievement, recognition, and specific work (Miner, 2012). Hygiene factors play a significant role in motivating employees. Expectancy/Goals Theories Expectancy or goal theories define how to motivate the employees. However, it is important to note that expectancy/goals theories are more sophisticated (Kunitz, 2011). Evidently employees are motivated if they expect they can achieve their goals that attract both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

Relationship Between Childhood Well-being and Poverty

Relationship Between Childhood Well-being and Poverty Introduction This paper explores the relationship between childhood well-being and poverty. Using structural equation modelling a multidimensional picture of child well-being is developed which is linked to previous work on multidimensional poverty indicators at household level (Tomlinson et al. forthcoming). Following a brief literature review of childhood poverty and well-being research, there follows an analysis of several waves of the British Household Panel Study – a valuable source of data collected directly from children as well as adults in the same households. The paper attempts to map the experience of poverty at household level and relate it to the child’s well-being. Rather than seeing poverty as a facet of child well-being, as other researchers often do, this work conceptually distinguishes between the two and shows how they are linked. Following the literature review various structural equation models are estimated that measure different dimensions of child well-being. These dimensions are then related to other aspects of the child’s life including the experience of poverty, age and gender, household composition, income, parental education and employment status. The effects of poverty are broken down into more detailed dimensions and the relative impact of each dimension is discussed. Finally, the models are used to inform targeting strategies with respect to child welfare policy. Crucially the differential impact of various potential policy instruments is assessed through the models. Mainstream child poverty research Since New Labour took office and pledged to eliminate child poverty by 2020 a myriad of policy changes and political statements has been issued to address the problems associated with poverty and deprivation during childhood. Indeed the costs of child poverty and its immediate and future effects are becoming increasingly alarming. For instance, recent research has found that poor children are more likely to get into trouble inside and outside school and more likely to be involved in drug abuse (ONS 2002). The direct costs of this are estimated to be considerable. For example:  £6000 for a 6 month non-custodial sentence  £21000 for a custodial sentence of 6 months Cost of attending pupil referral unit:  £10000/year Drug programmes cost on average  £15000/person over a 4 year period (Source: Godfrey et al. 2004) Much of the literature relating to child poverty in the UK has focussed around two areas: first the identification of households where risk is greatest and second, the so-called ‘scarring’ of children and the transmission of disadvantage into adulthood. With respect to the former it is now well known that poor children in particular are more likely to come from the following types of household: Workless households Benefit dependent households Lone parent families Low income households Families with younger children are more likely to be poor Large families Ethnic minority households Those in rented accommodation See, for example, Hirsch (2006a), Lloyd (2006). In addition Bradshaw (2006a) has extensive breakdowns of poverty rates for different social groups with children; Platt (2007) has an analysis of ethnicity, employment and child poverty; large families are extensively discussed in Iavacou and Berthoud (2006) and so on. In other words it is no longer an issue of identifying which types of environment – from a household perspective – are important, but rather moving towards a measurement model that can assess the impacts of the various dimensions associated with poverty on the child and its well-being. This is the approach taken in this paper. With respect to the second set of literature on scarring and transmission, the impact of poverty on a child’s future life-chances has also been extensively researched. Moreover, these impacts appear to have increased as child poverty increased during the 1980s and 1990s (Fahmy, 2006). Gregg and Wadsworth (2001) have noted the increased polarisation of working versus non-working households and the effects that this has had on poverty rates. That is the growth of dual-earner versus no-earner households. Using cohort studies such as the British Cohort Study (BCS) and National Child Development Study (NCDS), a series of papers has shown that low income in childhood leads to poor educational attainment in later life. For example, see Blanden and Gregg (2004) which also provides a useful review of the US literature on this topic. Gregg and Machin (2000) and Glennester (1995) come to similar conclusions. Fahmy has also reviewed the literature with respect to youth poverty (youth being defined as being aged 16-25). The consequences of poverty identified for this group, referred to as ‘hazardous transitions’ into adulthood, include: A high probability of becoming a ‘NEET’ (not in employment, education or training – see Istance et al 1994 for an earlier study) A bad career track (Craine 1997) A reduced level of citizenship and civic participation (Dean 1997) A higher risk of homelessness (Smith 1999, see also Flouri and Buchanan, 2004) Stewart has also documented various consequences of child poverty in later life. Adding low self-esteem, low expectations, reduced educational attainment, benefit dependency and poor labour market outcomes to the list. See Stewart, (2005) and also Hobcraft (1998) and Ermisch et al. (2001). While all this work is very convincing and commendable there is relatively little literature relating child poverty in the here and now and its immediate impact on the life and environment of the child. It is almost as if this were less important than the future costs. However, there is also a growing interest in the current well-being of children and its measurement. Early literature on this is extensively reviewed in Pollard and Lee (2002). This covers definitions of well-being, the indicators developed and instruments used in the measurement process. Moreover, two recent special issues of Social Indicators Research (SIR, 2007a, 2007b) have already been devoted exclusively to the topic (and a third issue is on the way). Interestingly, one strand of this work relates to human rights which shows the level of importance now being attached to these issues. Bradshaw et al. (2007) discuss concepts of well-being which are predicated on the UN convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC). Essentially this accepts the multi-dimensional nature of well-being from at least four perspectives: first that it is non-discriminatory, second that it is in the best interests of the child, third that it relates to the child’s survival and development, and fourth that it respects the views of the child (Bradshaw et al 2007: 134). The link to poverty and deprivation is sometimes made explicit in this literature: for example, ‘child well-being and deprivation represent different sides of the same coin’, Bradshaw et al. (2007). On the other hand, US, and very recent British, research shows well-being to be related to, but not the same as childhood poverty (Land et al., 2006; Bradshaw and Mayhew, 2005) for reasons that are not well-understood, but which probably include protective behaviour by parents (e.g., Flouri, 2004) and individual resilience (e.g., Masten and Coatsworth, 1998, Masten, 2001). Thus there is confusion about the relationship between well-being and poverty. Sometimes poverty is cited as a specific dimension of well-being, and sometimes as a separate concept entirely. For example, Bradshaw et al. (2007) have developed an eightfold classification of child well-being and generated one composite summary indicator from internationally comparable data. The eight dimensions being: Material well-being Housing Health Subjective well-being Education Relationships Civic participation Risk and safety These are measured by standardised scores which are added together to form the individual indices and an overall summary index which is then used for international comparison. There is then no accepted or uncontroversial measure of child well-being. The general thrust of the debate is that child well-being must be measured along several dimensions and poverty (or particular dimensions of poverty such as material deprivation) is sometimes included and sometimes not. The approach taken in this paper is somewhat different in that the two concepts are kept completely distinct as explained in more detail below. The measurement of poverty and well-being The approach here uses two sets of measures reflecting two aspects of the situation of children living in British households. First of all we measure poverty at the household level using structural equation models. This is done along several dimensions using data from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) and is discussed in Tomlinson et al. (forthcoming). The dimensions are: financial strain, material deprivation, the environment, psycho-social strain, civic participation and social isolation. These are combined into an overall weighted index referred to as the Poverty Index (PI). Second we use structural equation models to measure various dimensions of childhood well-being. We are restricted in the questions that are asked and cannot include all the dimensions listed by Bradshaw et al. (2007). However, we measure four different aspects of child well-being including ‘home life’ which relates to family relationships and parental control (similar to Bradshaw’s ‘relationships’ dimension), ‘educational orientation’ (again similar to Bradshaw et al.), ‘anxiety’ (based in part on Bradshaw’s subjective well-being indicator) and ‘delinquency’ (which also relates to risk and safety). However, a crucial difference with our approach is that we treat dimensions such as material well-being and housing as aspects of household level poverty rather than childhood well-being. Thus we keep poverty and well-being conceptually distinct and analyse the relations between the two. It is the association between these four measures of child well-being and the numerous measures of poverty already developed that is the ultimate focus of the paper. In summation we take a multidimensional approach to both well-being and poverty and we examine the correlates of poverty with a child’s current well-being. In this way we can assess the impacts of poverty on the child’s immediate social environment and state of mind rather than what the future might hold. Models which can link together different aspects of poverty with various aspects of children’s livelihoods will assist in developing strategies to alleviate some of these problems. In other words we identify which aspects of poverty have the most serious impacts on the child (and hence will probably affect their future life chances to the greatest extent). Using structural equation models (SEM) There are now many academics using more advanced statistical techniques to measure poverty from a multi-dimensional perspective (e.g., Jenkins and Cappellari, 2007, Tomlinson et al., forthcoming, Whelan et al. 2007a, 2007b). These techniques, such as item response theory, structural equation modelling and latent class analysis, can be used not only to analyse which families with children are actually in poverty, but also which particular aspects of this poverty are more intense (such as bad housing, material deprivation, financial strain and so on). This is the approach taken in this paper with respect to the measurement of poverty and the measurement of child well-being the two being linked together within a coherent methodological framework and then related specifically to policy and policy targeting. Like the more traditional method of factor analysis, a SEM reduces a large number of observed variables to a smaller number of factors. However, in a SEM the variables are conceptualised as observed manifestations of an underlying or ‘latent’ dimension. Each observed variable in a SEM also has an error term associated with it, allowing measurement error to be isolated and controlled for in a way that is impossible with factor analysis. But, most importantly, a SEM requires a strong theoretical justification before the model is specified. Thus the researcher decides which variables are to be associated with which latent unobserved factors in advance. There are two fundamental types of SEM used to measure or test the validity of latent concepts – first and second order confirmatory factor analysis models (CFAs). We use first order CFAs below to measure child well-being. A first order CFA simply attempts to measure preordained underlying latent concepts. The left side of figure 1 shows a simple CFA which has two latent unobserved variables: L1, material deprivation; and L2, financial strain. L1 is measured by the observed variables V1 to V4 and L2 is measured by variables V5 to V7. The single headed arrows represent coefficients or loadings in the model and are usually shown in standardised form much like beta coefficients in regression analysis. The covariance between material deprivation (L1) and financial strain (L2) is represented by the double headed arrow. The associated error terms are shown as the circles labelled e1 to e7. Using statistical techniques such as maximum likelihood estimation and making assumptions abou t the distributions of the variables and error terms in the model, the coefficients and covariances can be estimated. In all SEMs a variety of fit statistics is available to assess the validity of the models constructed (see Klein, 2005, Byrne, 2001). Usually it is assumed that the observed variables in the model are continuous and that the distribution of the variables is multivariate normal. More recently available software is beginning to allow the explicit modelling of categorical, binary and censored variables (such as MPlus which is used in this study). Models of this kind can be made as complex as necessary to describe real-world situations and employ many latent variables and various interactions between them. Covariates or controls can also be applied to the overall measurement models to assess differences between groups or to assess the impact of a particular variable on the latent concepts under consideration. Furthermore, scores can be generated for the unobserved latent variables. These scores are analogous to the factor scores obtained using factor analysis. The BHPS and the measurement of childhood well-being The analysis that follows utilizes data from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) and follows the methods discussed in Tomlinson et al. (forthcoming). The BHPS commenced in 1991 with an initial sample of around 10,000 individuals resident in some 5,000 households. These individuals have subsequently been re-interviewed each year and the sample has also been extended to include more households from Scotland and Wales and to embrace Northern Ireland (although Northern Ireland is excluded from this analysis). The data can be weighted to provide an accurate picture of life in Great Britain at different points in time. The analysis here covers the period 1997, 1999 and 2001 (i.e. BHPS waves 7, 9 and 11) and draws on information concerning the following topics for the measurement of poverty: income, finances and benefits; stress; material deprivation; general housing and neighbourhood characteristics and social exclusion and civic participation. The level of poverty at household level is measured by the responses given by the head of household and calculated as detailed in Tomlinson et al. (forthcoming). Each individual dimension of poverty as well as an overall score (the Poverty Index) is computed via a SEM for each household with children. Households with heads under 18 years of age or over 64 years of age are excluded from the sample analysed to calculate poverty scores. We also use a unique data resource available within the BHPS and consistently applied across the three waves. Children aged between 11 and 15 within these households were also asked to complete a separate questionnaire which forms the basis for the measurement models of child well-being. Questions included relate to home life, schooling, anxiety and psychological aspects of life, social isolation and delinquent behaviour. Estimating a structural equation model of childhood well-being As with the measurement of our multi-dimensional poverty index we attempted to create measures of multidimensional childhood well-being using 1st order CFAs based on the responses given by the 11 to 15 year olds in the BHPS panel for the years 1997, 1999 and 2001. The models have been estimated separately for all three waves. Questions change significantly in other available waves and these waves have not been included in the present analysis. The four dimensions of well-being are estimated using the following variables (which are all measured as ordinal scales except the variable relating to suspension from school which is binary): 1. Home life is a measure of the children’s relations to their parents and family and how much control the parents have over them: How much children talk to their parents How much control parents exercise over TV How much the family share meals together 2. Educational orientation is a measure of how well the child is doing at school and their attitudes to teachers and so on: How much the child likes his/her teachers Whether the teachers ‘get at me’ General feelings about school Whether the child is doing well at school 3. Anxiety is a measure of the child’s psychological health and feeling of self-worth Whether the child feels unhappy Whether the child has lost sleep How useless the child feels How much of a failure the child feels Whether the child feels no good The extent to which the child feels lonely The extent to which the child is left out of activities 4. Delinquency is an attempt to measure aspects of criminal tendencies or anti-social behaviour: Whether the child has ever been suspended from school How often the child plays truant How much experience the child has with smoking cigarettes Whether the child vandalises property Whether the child has friends that use illegal drugs (there is no direct question about the respondent’s own drug use) A first order confirmatory factor analysis model was estimated to measure the four dimensions (see figure 2 for an example from wave 11) and further models developed with controls for gender and age of the child and the overall Poverty Index of the head of household. We attempted this with each of the three waves of the BHPS, but all three models gave similar results and good fit indices. The model estimation was done using MPlus 4 with the observed variables being treated as ordinal rather than continuous where appropriate. Results and discussion of the basic model The first order models produce a good fit to the data (see Table 1) and the coefficients on the observed variables are all in the expected direction and all statistically significant at the 1% level. Some error terms were allowed to co-vary as illustrated in the figure based on very high modification indices in the initial modelling attempts. Examining the latent constructs themselves and the correlations between them reveals the relationships between the various dimensions of well-being. That is educational orientation is strongly associated with parental influence and negatively associated with anxiety and delinquency. Delinquency is also positively associated with anxiety etc. (Table 1). Table 1Fit statistics and correlations for the simple models (wave 11) Fit statistics: (N=1201) Without controlsWith controls Chi-square 426.959 (79 d.f.)639.104 (130 d.f.) CFI0.9370.902 TLI0.9550.921 RMSEA0.0570.057 Correlations between latent variables in controlled model (all significant at 1%):   Home life Educational Orientation Anxiety Educational Orientation +.54 Anxiety -.18 -.36 Delinquency –.63 -.54 +.22 The controlling variables are also salient. Girls are more anxious than boys, but have better educational orientation and relations with their parents. There is no significant difference between girls and boys with respect to delinquency. The age controls show that home life diminishes with age, while delinquency increases. Children of 11 and 12 also have stronger educational orientation than their older peers. However, the most striking result is that poverty (measured by our composite multidimensional index) has a highly significant and detrimental effect on all four of the well-being dimensions. That is it contributes to anxiety and delinquency and detracts from educational orientation and home life. Thus we can show that poverty has a serious debilitating effect on child well-being in the here and now. The relative importance of poverty for each dimension of well-being is also evident. The strongest effect appears to be on home life (–0.22) followed by educational orientat ion (–0.13). The impact on anxiety and delinquency is less strong (both at 0.10), but still highly significant. Thus we can show that the overall impact of the experience of poverty appears to affect home life and education the most while still having an effect on anxiety and anti-social behaviour. However, one of the issues we wish to deal with (not least from a policy targeting perspective) is to see which sub-dimensions of poverty are the most salient with respect to child well-being. For example, as we have measured poverty in a multidimensional way, which particular dimensions have the biggest impact? In our previous measurement work we developed several indicators of multidimensional poverty. Namely the poverty index is a weighted summation of several sub-indices: financial strain based on bad finances and missed housing payments material deprivation based on the levels of material possessions in the household and whether the household could afford to do certain things the environment which is based on a combination of housing and neighbourhood characteristics social isolation based on lack of social support civic participation based on participation in civic life psycho-social strain based on stress, mental health and anxiety The most desirable way to test the effects of the various dimensions on well-being would be to include them all as covariates in a measurement model similar to that shown in figure 2. However, because the various dimensions of poverty are highly correlated with each other this presents problems for the estimation (that is there is a multicollinearity issue). Rather than attempt to do this, individual models have been estimated with each sub-dimension of poverty included by itself in place of the overall poverty index in a similar fashion to the model in Figure 2. The relative sizes and significance of the coefficients relating to the individual sub-dimensions of poverty will allow an assessment to be made as to which elements of poverty are the most serious with respect to the child’s welfare. The results are summarised in figure 3 (this is a diagrammatic summary of results from wave 11 (2001) and shows only the significant effects). The results show that different aspects of poverty have different effects on the various aspects of well-being. For example, the financial dimension affects all the aspects of well-being whereas material deprivation only affects two (being detrimental to home life and increasing delinquency). A poor environment in terms of bad housing or neighbourhood results in reduced quality of home life, increased anxiety and delinquency. By using these results it becomes clear that policy aimed at poverty reduction could in principle be targeted in particular ways that would have different benefits as far as the diverse dimensions of child well-being are concerned. Improving the environment of children – both within and outside the household – may well have a greater overall impact on well-being than improving material deprivation. On the other hand if educational performance is the main criterion then financial strain, and civic participation of the household become the key areas. If home life is seen to be the main issue then finance, material deprivation, the stress of the parents, the environment and civic participation would be the key foci. This policy dimension is returned to below. It is also interesting to note that social isolation (a measure of social exclusion) of the head of household has no bearing on the four well-being indicators. However, there are also other controlling factors that can be incorporated in the models determining child well-being besides poverty, age and gender. Using the structural equation framework with covariates allows several alternative model specifications to take into account different offsetting factors with respect to child welfare. There is already evidence from the UK that certain situations in childhood can ‘buck the trend’ in reducing the negative outcomes of child poverty. For example, Blanden (2006) has shown that parental interest (mainly the father for boys and the mother for girls) has a positive impact on adult educational outcomes. She also shows that higher educational attainment early in the child’s life has a positive impact later on as does the school’s characteristics and the social mix of the child’s school. So research has shown that there may be mediating effects (such as parenting or living in a good neighbourhood) that offset the deleterious impact of poverty and deprivation. For example, McCulloch and Joshi (2001) found using the National Child Development Survey that although poverty and living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods does correlate with lower test scores at school, the family environment and family support can offset this effect. In the US the extensive work of Aber and his colleagues has also shown that there are negative effects on child specific outcomes from poverty and material hardship and that cognitive and emotional outcomes are affected by low income and material hardship (e.g., Gershoff et al, n.d.), but that this is mediated by parental characteristics. With this idea of mediation in mind several alternative models have thus been estimated to take account of the following factors which are included as further controls in the models: Household composition (such as the presence of other children and single versus multiple adult households) Educational attainment of the household head Employment status of the head of household Income rather than multidimensional poverty indices The household composition model will enable an assessment of family relations and its impact on well-being. The education model will assess the impact of parental human capital irrespective of other considerations. While the employment and income models can be usefully compared with the Poverty Index model (in other words can income or employment status merely substitute for poverty)? These results are summarised in table 3 for wave 11 (2001). The models were essentially the same as shown in figure 2, but without including the Poverty Index as a control which confounded the income and employment status models (again because of multicollinearity). Household composition was tested by including a variable indicating whether the household was a single adult household (versus other types) and dummy variables representing the number of children in different age categories. The results show clearly the influence of adults is significant when it comes to home life and delinquency (whereas being a single adult household has no effect on anxiety or educational orientation). Single parent households are therefore at a possible disadvantage when it comes to controlling their children. Even when a control for income is included in this model in an attempt to separate out the impact of low income from single parenthood the single adult variable is still significant in the same way. The presence of other children or siblings appears to have no impact on the child respondent’s well-being. Education of the head of household also has an impact on home life and educational orientation of the child, but only where the household head is educated to a higher educational level (that is degree level). The models for employment status included variables for self-employed status, unemployed and non-employed (i.e. not working and not actively looking for a job). Clearly the household head not having a job has an effect on the child’s well-being (although this is also correlated with the Poverty Index). In the case of being non-employed (which includes housewives, the disabled, and other economically inactive people) this has an impact on all four well-being dimensions to the detriment of the child whereas being unemployed only affects home life and delinquency. Self-employment has no effect. One possible explanation for the difference between unemployed and non-employed effects might be a reflection of the impact of long-term poverty and deprivation on children. That is t hose household heads that are not economically active for one reason or another and classed as non-employed rather than unemployed may well suffer from longer periods of chronic financial hardship, whereas the unemployed may be intermittently working and thus have experienced periods where they were no longer poor. Table 3Effects of various controls on the basic well-being model with various controls in addition to age and gender of the child (wave 11). Significance level is 1%. Standardised coefficients shown.

My Cousin’s Funeral :: Personal Narrative Writing

My Cousin’s Funeral I dreamt once that I was in love with my cousin Rob Campbell. In the dream, he was rosy and cherubic. When we kissed, he was soft. In the morning, my lips remembered Rob’s kisses. I felt the sensation dancing quietly just above my skin, woven and brushed, like a cashmere sweater. I talked to my dad over instant messenger and told him that I had a dream that Rob was my lover. I didn’t want to tell him this, embarrassed, but something seemed to propel me forward. He typed his response, slowly. I waited. â€Å"That’s O.K,† the screen read. â€Å"I dreamed a lot about my brother when he died too.† My grandfather Hank died one day in my living room. He fell out of bed and called to my mom, singing on the night air, â€Å"Peggy, Peggy...† No one heard him until it was the cusp of dark and light. There was a moment when he died. He was a fountain of coagulation and mucus. He was very pale and his skin looked like a molded piece of white rubber. I was 16 but I felt like an infant in that moment when my grandfather took his last breath. At Rob’s visiting hours, there is a reception line. His mother and father and sister and brother stand up next to the casket. My dad and mom—his uncle and aunt—are up there too, along with my paternal grandparents and my dad’s brother Mark. I sit in the back with my brother and his wife and my boyfriend. I watch as the room fills with people. The line toward the casket is jumbled and when people first enter the room, they don’t see Rob. They see Debbie and Paul and Becky and Aaron first. Then, as the line straightens out, they see Rob, white and chalky. I watch as mouths open, lips quiver, eyes close, Rob’s apples jump, breaths halt. I feel bad watching their pain so I watch their hands instead. Hand to hand. Grasping hands of my dad and my grandfather. Strangers. Sweaty hands, clammy hands, nervous hands, sad hands. At one point, my grandmother leaves the receiving line. She is wearing the purple flowered dress from J.C. Penney that she wore to my high school graduation. â€Å"Susan, I’m glad James and I got the flu shot,† she whispers to me on her way to the bathroom.