Immigration Issue of the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Immigration Issue of the United States - Essay Example Population growth is an essential role in a healthy economy. Statistically, immigrants and their families will account for sixty percent of the United States’ population after forty years (Pawlick and Finley 2). With this huge number, the US could take advantage of them by providing them and their children the amenities they need to live their social life normally. Giving proper and quality education to the migrant children will reflect positively in the future of the country. The educated migrant generation can create a diverse human resource environment locally, which will eventually address and eliminate cultural issues like racism very effectively. Similarly, they will follow the social norms and traditional values of the US better than the Native Americans for want of proving that they deserve to live with dignity in the country by ensuring their civil and political rights as citizens of the US. These points show that the increasing number of immigrants is going to affect many aspects in a positive way for the United States. One of the biggest legal issues about migration is the absence of necessary documents held by the migrants in order to become an American citizen. These people use others’ documents and Social Security numbers to avoid troubles or deporting (Pawlick and Finley 3). The legal complications related to falsification or forging of documents will lead to the arrest of the migrant, and in case of couples or individuals with children, this situation will grow riskier impacts. From my perspective, the government should make it easier for immigrants to attain official documents in order to address this issue appropriately.  

Needs Analysis Essay Example for Free

Needs Analysis Essay Majority of students lack understanding of mathematical language and show weakness in basic numerical computation. The students make frequent errors because they misread operation signs when adding or subtracting integers or carry numbers incorrectly when multiplying whole number and decimals. Furthermore, these students have difficulty understanding written or verbal directions or explanations, and find word problems especially difficult to translate. Current Conditions The current data shows that only 15 percent of the students were able to understand and perform the necessary computation with minimal errors on application problems to pass the semester exam with a 70 or above. Thus 85 percent were unsuccessful on the semester exam that focus on computation skills and understanding application word problems. Desired Conditions The optimal goal is to increase the student’s performance from its current state by 200 percent. By increasing the student’s performance, the students should be able to understand, define, and use mathematical terminology to solve difficult application problems without minimal computation errors. Data Collection Processes Discussion of Data Collection Instruments Used In order to determine what problems students had in school and what tools math teachers thought students should emphasize, interviews and focus groups were used due to the speed of receiving the results. Test score data was gathered from the district as it was already mandated by the district and results were already given. Test scores and the data retrieved from the district is meant to be similar to the state assessment that will be given towards the end of the 5th six weeks. Discussion of Sources of Data Surveys and other short interviews were given to the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math teachers at the middle school campus. It is believed that it is partially due the lack of reviewing their own work is a potential source of the low test scores. Survey question was introduced by creating a baseline of how often teachers believed students should be checking their work. By first understanding this, it would allow a determination if there was in fact a difference between students’ actual reviewing patterns and the actual reviewing patterns. Additionally, an issue with reviewing would be if students are unfamiliar with how to check their work. By determining which skills the teachers deem to be the most productive when practicing their computation, the teachers will then be able to create a vertical alignment where instruction is built on those review skills. This would provide students with a foundation where their knowledge can be increased without the troubles of having to learn a new way to review. Typically the reverse operation would be done in order to check for the correct answer. However, if there is an issue in the basic computation it would hinder students being able to check their work. This was the reason why students were also given survey questions and were interviewed. Students would be asked how often they check their work and they would also identify their self-efficacy in computation of problems with decimals. If there is a need in that students do not check their work and if they do not feel competent in completing the problems with decimals, then it would dictate a need to reteach the material. Surveys and interviews were given to students due to their speed and their ability to quickly assess where a need was. Data Analysis Techniques Used The first survey question asked the students about the percentage of the time they reviewed their work after completing a math problem. The answer choices included: between 0-20 percent, between 20-40 percent, between 40-60 percent, between 60-80 percent, and between 80-100 percent.

ECON 4131, International Finance, Spring 2002, Exam 2 Essays -- UMN Mi

Midterm Exam International Finance April 7, 2004 Answer all questions in examination booklets 1. (15 points) Define the following a) The â€Å"spot† exchange rate b) The â€Å"forward† exchange rate c) A capital account â€Å"surplus† d) Currency depreciation e) Arbitrage 2. (10 points) Briefly discuss the essential features of forward contracts, currency futures, and currency options. 3. (15 points) Use the BOP accounts guide on the last page of this exam to indicate where each of the following transactions should be recorded in the U.S. balance of payments (e.g.: â€Å"i3†, â€Å"e2†, etc.). Bear in mind that each transaction should generate a capital account and a current account entry. a) A Canadian firm buys a $75 million jet from the American company Boeing, which it pays for with a check drawn on Banc du Quebec b) Cargill (out of Mpls.) buys $10m. of Canadian wheat, which it pays for with a check drawn on Twin Cities Federal c) An American...

Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair Essay

A. What is Ryanair’s strategy and why has it been successful so far? In 1911, Ryanair faced cash flow problem, and was going to be bankrupted. However, it found the way to overcome this crisis by transform themselves from ordinary high-price airlines into the lowest price airline in the EU. They focused on 5 things to rebirth their company. 1. Focused on cut down the costs: Ryanair aggressively cut most of its costs in many ways. Found the routes and airports that charged low landing fees, and low turnaround costs Chose routes to Secondary airports, low airport fee Eliminated all in-flight amenities Used metal stairs instead of â€Å"air bridge† Paid lower commissions to travel agents Saved cost in its internal operations Implemented economies of scale by using one model aircraft and treating all customers equally 2. Focused on operating efficiency: Ryanair carefully allocate all of its resources and assets to get the highest performance outcome. Optimized airplanes usages by relocating the planes used in loss-making routes to gain-making routes. Attempted to increased aircraft turnaround rate in many ways Operated only one type of aircraft Provided the newsletter to employees, which contained its and its competitors’ movements 3. Focused on customer satisfactions: Ryanair sustained customer care. Even though they are mostly middle-to-low classes who expected less services due to the lowest airfares, they would receive more than their expectation. There were 160 full-time reservation agents at its call enter at Dublin answered calls Maintained its record for on-time flight due to good-performed aircraft turnaround Received airfares in other currency Had fewer restrictions to change the tickets 4. Focused on ancillary income: Ryanair gained extra revenue from other sales and services. In-flight sales: beverages, snacks, and traditional items Advertised spaces renting Other referred fees 5. Focused on its employees: Ryanair never forgot to sustain and motivate employees. Imprinted its values to employees. â€Å"the firms as brutally cost conscious† Gave its stock options to employees Rewards system varied with performance, commission, and corporate profits Had lots of job opportunities, e.g. promotion or rotation Had no bureaucracy and hierarchy Compared to its competitors, Ryanair became succeed because it was the first low-cost airlines which provided low airfares that generate increased volume of customers. At the same time, it had maintained a continuous focus on customer satisfactions, cost management and operating efficiencies, leading to the great reputation that transfer â€Å"from mouth to mouth† by its loyalty customers. That created more customer and more income, being its sources of fund for reinvest. Also, the extra revenue from sales, advertised spaces renting, and referral fees could support its financial health and accommodate it to sell the ticket more lower price. Moreover, started with people, Ryanair’s employees shared the same values and goals with their company, â€Å"cost-conscious† with â€Å"good-services†. Sharing the company’s benefit with them also motivated them to work better and better. This was the other important foundation for its success. That’s why, Ryanair was success and became very high competitiveness in this market. B. Looking to the future, what should be the strategic concerns of Ryanair? What recommendations would you make to the top management? In my opinions, the most strategic concerns of Ryanair is its competitors. Assuming we were in 1999, at that time, no carrier that were Ryanair’s primary competitor. However, in this year, no-frills carriers accounted for 3% of the European air travel market. This implied that the competition would be more intense. I would like to go through each competitors one-by-one. Virgin Express: It was most harmful competitor. It had many features as same as Ryanair, and some of them were better than Ryanair’s, e.g. nine languages services in ticket reservations, no physical tickets (lower its costs), etc. Virgin Express’s financial lost in 1998 might be resulted from only a shortage of pilots. If Virgin Express could fix that problems, continuously improve its features, and fully implement cost control, it would become very competitiveness to the market. Suggestion for Ryanair: Sustain doing the  ways Ryanair was, improve quality of service, innovate the ways to reduce costs, and focus more in marketing and creating brand awareness easyJet: It was also harmful competitor. It had the same business model concerned about cost control, it gradually grew and was going to change from subcontracting to their own operation by reinvesting. However, its philosophy was â€Å"won’t complete with other low-fare guys†. Suggestion for Ryanair: Quickly expand the flying routes and grasp that benefits before easyJet does. British Airway’s Go: British Airway’s Go had powerful backups and great brand values. It provided better service in-flight but also sold ticket at the cheap price. Leading to the price competition in the future. Suggestion for Ryanair: The company have to innovate its new unique point to eliminate the problem that it would have faced the loss of its customers to the competitors. It also need to in-depth its group of customers to find the ways out. Also, Ryanair have to be alert all the time. As the market become more intense, only dynamic organization can survive.

Determinants of Dividend Policy of Cement Industy of Pakistan

RESEARCH PROPOSAL DETERMINANTS OF DIVIDEND POLICY OF CEMENT INDUSTY OF PAKISTAN Submitted To: Dr. Ahmed Faisal Imtiaz Siddiqi Submitted By: Muhammad Waqar Akram ID # 12002096-010 Programme: MS-Finance Batch-02 INTRODUCTION Dividend Policy refers to the explicit or implicit decision of the Board of Directors regarding the amount of residual earnings (past or present) that should be distributed to the shareholders of the corporation This decision is considered a financing decision because the profits of the corporation are an important source of financing available to the firm.Dividend policy is a one of the most debated topics and a core theory of corporate finance which still keeps its prominent place. Many researchers presented various theories and uncountable empirical evidences, but the issue is still unresolved and open for further discussion. It is among top ten unresolved problems in the finance literature and we have not an adequate explanation for the observed dividend behavi or of the firms There are several reasons whether firms should pay dividends or not. The â€Å"dividend puzzle† why firms pay dividends and stock holders pay attention to dividends and still unresolved.Many hypotheses have been drawn to shed some light on this puzzle but the problem still exists. Normally a firm faces the problem of allocation of earnings, whether to distribute among shareholders or retaining for reinvestment and promote the firm growth. Retained earnings are a main internal source of financing, but higher retained earning mean fewer dividends and vice versa. The cement sector is a prominent sector of Pakistan and works as an engine of economic growth in the economy. It provides employment to a large number of people (directly & indirectly).Cement production capacity in Pakistan is 44 million tons annually while local demand is only 24 million tons, leaving a surplus of 20 million tons. Cement manufactured in Pakistan is being exported to Afghanistan and Cent ral Asian States below cost. During FY-11 cement industry exported over 4 million tons to these markets and the industry is optimistic that exports to Afghanistan and Central Asian States shall increase further since these countries are landlocked and Pakistan is the only country which is able to supply cement at competitive rates.So, it is important to find the factors that determine and affecting the dividend payout policy of this sector. LITERTURE REVIEW Over the past 50 years a great attention was given to determine the factors influencing dividend payout policy. A vast literature is available in this regard, however, the puzzle is still unresolved and open for further discussion. â€Å"Why do firms pay dividends? † further he raises a second question, â€Å"Why do investors pay attention to dividends? † although, the answers may appear clear, (Black 1998)but Black concludes that they are not.As we try to explain the fact, the more it seems like a puzzle, with piec es that just do not fit together. Various factors can be considered as the determinants of dividend payout policy and a number of logics for dividend payout policy have been declared in the literature, however, the researchers are not agreed on a single point. In developed economies, the decision whether paying dividends or keep as retained earnings has been taken very carefully by both investors and the management of the firm. (Adaoglu 2000) By paying a sufficient amount of dividend firms can prevent from the agency problem.The dividend payouts are helpful to keep firms in the market, where monitoring of managers is available at low cost. The managers make financial policy trade-offs to control agency cost in an effective way(Amidu and Abor 2006) A free cash flow is helpful for a firm to share it with stockholders as dividends and pay the debt in order to reduce the possibility of these funds being wasted on unprofitable projects(Pettit 1972) Firms’ investment policies have a significant impact on its dividend payout policy; the firms with less investment plans has greater amount to distribute as dividends.Due to the higher investment opportunities firms deprive from higher dividends to lower. So the investment opportunities has a negative relationship to the dividend payouts(Farinha 2003) Another factor affecting the dividend policy is the ownership of firm; state owned firms follow a smooth dividend pattern as compare to family owned firms. The family owned firms are uneager to pay dividends, whereas the state owned firms are more reluctant to diminish the dividend amount.The insider ownership also play a significant role in dividend policy(Imran 1997; Okpara 2010) The dividend policy is quite different in emerging markets as compare to developed economies, and seems to be affected by a number of factors(Al-Kuwari 2009) Due to several reasons like taxes pay procedure, stock market volatility and certain asymmetryinformation the dividend payout patter n is different in emerging markets as compare to developed nations.Another reason is that in emerging markets the firms focus on dividend payout ratios as compare to the level of dividends paid(Al-Kuwari 2009; Terra 2011) Higher the earnings of a firm, greater the size and firms with foreign ownership prefer to distribute a higher and constant amount in dividend payouts according to their earnings and size(Eriotis 2011) The liquidity of the firm leaves a negative impact on the firms dividend payout decision.The stock market liquidity and dividend are substitutes in the sight of investors, so the firm’s dividend policy is associated to the liquidity of its common stock. As a result firms with more liquid common stock, distribute less cash dividend(Amidu 2007) The more profitable firms are willing to distribute a higher amount of dividend payouts. The greater profitability not only positively affects the firms’ current dividend but dividend yield also. Whereas, the riski er firms distribute lower dividends and hence lower dividend yields.The firms which can easily fulfill their short term needs and want to improve their current payouts than last year are more willing to pay dividend(Fama and French 2002) OBJECTIVE †¢Companies pays dividend smoothly on regular basis †¢Dividend payout policy depend on size of firm †¢Profitability(Net Profit) of company effect dividend policy †¢Growing companies (Growth in sale) pays dividend on regular basis †¢Investment opportunity (Retained earnings) effect the dividend policy †¢Impact of liquidity (cash flows) on dividend policy †¢Impact of leverage (Debt to Equity ratio) on dividend policyTHEORITICAL FRAM WORK DATA COLLECTION & PROPOSED METHODOLOGY Investigates the factors determine the dividend payout policy of Pakistani cement companies listed on KSE. The data employed is derived from Balance Sheet Analysis of KSE listed companies published by companies, covered the ten year pe riod 2001 to 2010 of 26 companies. (companies depends upon availability of data) The nature of the data allows us the use regression analysis to build relationship between dividend payout policy and factors which influence dividend policy HYPOTHESISH1: Cement companies pays smooth or stable in paying dividend H2: Positive relationship of dividend payout and size(Total Assets) of company H3: Positive relationship between Profitability(Net Profit) of company & dividend payout H4: Positive relationship between growth(Growth in sale) and dividend payout H5: There is positive relationship between liquidity (Quick Ratio) & dividend payout. H6: There is negative relationship of leverage (Debt to Equity ratio) & dividend payments H7: There is negative relationship between Investment opportunity (retained earnings/total asset) and dividend payout Limitation Due to unavailability of all companies data listed on KSE to construct a balance panel and for selected time period, the study used data for twenty companies which represent more than 80 % of total cement industry. ?This study includes both types of firms (e. g. dividend paying and non paying firms). ?There are many determinants of dividend policy but only six determinates have been taken. References Adaoglu, C. (2000). â€Å"Instability in the dividend policy of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) corporations: evidence from an emerging market. Emerging Markets Review 1(3): 252-270. Al-Kuwari, D. (2009). â€Å"Determinants of the dividend policy in emerging stock exchanges: The case of GCC countries. † Global Economy & Finance Journal 2(2): 38-63. Amidu, M. (2007). â€Å"How does dividend policy affect performance of the firm on Ghana Tock exchange? † Investment Management and Financial Innovations 4(2): 103-112. Amidu, M. and J. Abor (2006). â€Å"Determinants of dividend payout ratios in Ghana. † Journal of Risk Finance, The 7(2): 136-145. Black, F. (1998). â€Å"The dividend puzzle. Streetwi se: the best of the Journal of portfolio management: 10. Eriotis, N. (2011). â€Å"The Effect Of Distributed Earnings And Size Of The Firm To Its Dividend Policy: Some Greek Data. † International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER) 4(1). Fama, E. F. and K. R. French (2002). â€Å"Testing trade? off and pecking order predictions about dividends and debt. † Review of financial studies 15(1): 1-33. Farinha, J. (2003). â€Å"Dividend policy, corporate governance and the managerial entrenchment hypothesis: an empirical analysis. † Journal of Business Finance & Accounting 30(9? 0): 1173-1209. Imran, K. (1997). â€Å"Determinants of Dividend Payout Policy: A Case of Pakistan Engineering Sector. † Romanian Economic Journal 14(41): 47-60. Okpara, G. C. (2010). â€Å"Investigation of the critical sources of investment finance in Nigeria: a factor analytical approach. † Pettit, R. R. (1972). â€Å"Dividend announcements, security performance, and ca pital market efficiency. † The Journal of Finance 27(5): 993-1007. Terra, P. R. S. (2011). â€Å"Determinants of corporate debt maturity in Latin America. † European Business Review 23(1): 45-70.