Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Ifc Survey Report in Ghana Free Essays

IFC Survey Reports Expansion of Ghana’s Leasing Market WEBWIRE †Thursday, August 30, 2007 IFC, an individual from the World Bank Group, today discharged the discoveries of its subsequent yearly overview of Ghana’s renting market. The outcomes show that the quantity of new rents gave in the nation developed from 311 of every 2005 to 536 toward the finish of 2006 †an expansion of 72 percent. The complete rent portfolio spoke to by net rent receivables by the segment likewise expanded by more than 73 percent from $29. We will compose a custom paper test on Ifc Survey Report in Ghana or on the other hand any comparable theme just for you Request Now million out of 2005 to $51. 3 million out of 2006. The report takes note of a noteworthy increment in the quantity of renting suppliers, from seven out of 2005 to 12 of every 2007, with many financial establishments entering the division. The Leasing in Ghana 2007 report speaks to the most far reaching study of Ghana’s renting business sector to date. It features significant advancements in the renting business in 2006 and makes proposals for additional enhancements in the arrangement, administrative, and charge conditions that oversee the area. The report was gathered by the SECO IFC Leasing Program, a venture that tries to improve the job of renting as an elective financing component for organizations in Ghana. Propelling the report, Taba Cookey, SECO IFC Leasing Program Manager, stated, â€Å"IFC is focused on supporting endeavors that develop Ghana’s monetary division and extend access to back for the private area. The 2007 overview gives solid proof that the renting division is assuming an inexorably significant job in financing the necessities of private organizations in Ghana. Philippe Sas, Economic Advisor at SECO, stated, â€Å"Leasing is significant, in light of the fact that it benefits for the most part little and medium undertakings that for the most part can't get to financing from banking organizations. It makes it simpler for these organizations to gain capital hardware in any event, when they do not have the record as a consumer or adequate insurance to get to conventional types of financing. † Speaking at the dispatch, Dela Selormey, Head of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana, complimented the improvement of the renting division and sketched out different endeavors by the bank to help further development of the monetary part. Around the world, renting has exhibited the capacity to expand interest in capital gear. Renting assumes a significant job in financial turn of events. For instance, it is accounted for that each 8 to 9 percent development in renting exercises prompts a relating 1 percent normal development in a country’s GDP. In created nations, renting is utilized to back around 33% of private ventures. Step by step instructions to refer to Ifc Survey Report in Ghana, Papers

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Management and People free essay sample

There are different methods of portraying the board, so in this task the various meanings of the executives would be examined and we would likewise perceive how the greater part of the definitions are comparable, alongside their capacities. We ought to consider the board take a gander at why the executives is important. We should perceive how the different perspectives on these administration scholars are comparative and furthermore in the event that they differentiate. The executives, as characterized, â€Å"is the movement of completing things the guide of individuals and different assets proficiently and successfully, it is an element of most human conditions; local, social and political, just as in officially settled organisations†(David Boddy, 2008, ps. 10). We individuals perform various exercises ordinary, for example, eating, drinking, playing and they are identified with the board and so forth. As indicated by Mary Parket Follet, â€Å"Management is the demonstration of completing things through individuals. So the executives is a movement in light of the fact that a supervisor achieves his undertaking or target with the assistance of others and furthermore guides these individuals so as to acquire his goal, so the executives accomplishes its destinations through individuals, so the executives is very valuable to individuals. In the board there are different exercises that are completed. These incorporate enlightening exercises, decisional exercises and between close to home exercises and every one of these exercises are to be finished by a director. The executives tries are done to support singular exercises that will help achieve all objectives. In this way, directors should consistently keep authoritative objectives in thought. â€Å"Management is additionally the way toward arriving at hierarchical objectives by working with and through individuals and other authoritative resources†. (Samuel. c. Certo, eight versions, and p. s6) this definition is an incredible like the initial two definitions. The two of them state that administration has to do with accomplishing its objectives through the guide of individuals and assets, that’s to state, that, each kind of human association requires the procedure of the executives which assists with putting forth human every day attempts gainful. The executives is an internationally known. It is likewise a generally utilized term. It’s utilized in all associations; political, social or social association. Every one of these associations are engaged with the board since the executives helps and aides the different procedures required to accomplish a reason. It can likewise be said that â€Å"management is both a general human movement and an unmistakable occupation†. (David boddy, 2008, p. s9). The board as a human movement happens when people choose to assume liability and put forth a valiant effort to design the advancement and consequence of an action. At the point when individuals deal with their work, they assume liability of everything in that association and ensure that they accomplish their motivation and that it has a positive result, along these lines â€Å"Management is a declaration of human organization, the limit effectively to shape and direct the world, instead of essentially respond to it†. (Hales, 2001, p. s2). The executives idea is general and old. That’s why there are various perspectives communicated by essayists and scholar about the idea of the board. Be that as it may, the nonstop improvement of the executives standards has changed the idea of the executives. The vast majority consider the executives as being just a craftsmanship however the executives is likewise a science. it is the craft of making individuals more usable and dynamic than they would have being without it. As indicated by Harold Knootz, â€Å"Management is the specialty of completing things through and with the guide of individuals in officially sorted out groups†. The board is viewed as a workmanship instead of a science essentially in light of the fact that the abilities of the executives are to a greater degree an individual belonging and is instinctive. The executives is likewise a science in the feeling of how it is finished. Similarly as how science is an arranged collection of information which depends on sufficient perception and discoveries and this discoveries apply securely in all circumstances. In this sense, the board is a science as it has additionally built up some arranged information, however the executives isn't as careful in science as other physical sciences, for example, material science, science, science and so forth yet similarly as different sciences, the executives has likewise built up specific laws and standards which are pertinent anyplace the endeavors of individuals are observed. The executives is all the more a sociology and not of only a science, it manages the individuals and it isn't so natural to foresee human conduct precisely. In this way, the executives isn't only a workmanship; it has components of both craftsmanship and science. So it is both, a workmanship and science. The board is an arranged action. It is the association and co-appointment of the exercises of a business so as to accomplish explicit goals. It is something that coordinates collective endeavors towards the achievement of certain pre decided objectives. It is the way toward working through others to successfully accomplish the objectives of the association, by proficiently utilizing assets that are restricted in the evolving scene. Obviously, these objectives may change starting with one endeavor then onto the next. The board is regularly included as a factor of creation alongside machines, cash and materials. It is the administration which places these variables of creation into sensible use. Along these lines, it is one of the significant obligations of the executives; to make such condition which is helpful for most extreme endeavors so individuals would have the option to play out their undertaking productively and viably. It incorporates guaranteeing the accessibility of crude materials, assurance of wages and pay rates, definition of rules amp; guidelines and so on. The executives is additionally a craft of making an inward domain, in which individuals can perform and people can likewise co-work with them so as to achieve a gathering of objectives. The board can be of various sizes, going from one individual to a little association with many individuals or most likely it could likewise include hundreds or thousands of directors in an enormous organization or global organizations. As per Fw. Taylor, â€Å"Management is a specialty of realizing what to do and see that it is done in the best and least expensive way†. This is in this way saying in the executives you need to realize what is intended to be done and to recognize what ought to be done as well as ought to likewise have the option to do it proficiently. â€Å"The term the executives can likewise allude to the people who control and direct associations or to a lifelong gave to the undertaking of controlling and coordinating organisations†. (Samuel. C. Certo, eight versions, p. s6). As indicated by the executives master, Peter Drucker (1909-2005), â€Å"The fundamental errand of the board incorporates both advertising and advancement. Development â€Å"Is the utilization of new mechanical and market information to offer another item or administration that clients will want†. (Allan Afuah, second release, p. s4). Development is a piece of the board in light of the fact that as characterized, it has to do with the utilization of new innovation and market information so as to create new items that would be attractive to clients. In this way with advancement, supervisors can have the option to accomplish their objectives. The board comprises of the interlocking capacities or exercises of making corporate approach and sorting out, arranging, controlling, and guiding an organisation’s assets so as to accomplish its necessary destinations. The board is the way toward providing a request to the exercises of arranging, affecting, controlling and sorting out that are performed to decide and achieve expressed targets with the utilization of people and different assets. What's more, this exercises or capacities are what make up the executives. They are likewise the key undertakings that are to be finished by a director. The board is being characterized in an unexpected way, every administration scholars have their own view on the executives and decipher it on their discoveries, for example, Henri Fayol, Harold koontz, Mary Parket Follet, Peter Drucker and Mintzberg. In any case, the board is significantly characterized as a craft of completing things through individuals to accomplish a target. Harold Koontz and Mary Parket Follet had a similar view on this, the two of them characterized the board as a craft of completing things. While Henri Fayol and mintzberg sees are very comparative but on the other hand are extraordinary. The two of them depicted a manager’s work a similar way, as per Henri Fayol, â€Å"To oversee is to figure and to design, to sort out, to order, to co-ordinate, and to control†. He sees the board as far as its capacities, what administrators need to do so as to accomplish their targets. Mintzberg additionally says that all together for a director to have the option to accomplish his targets, he must have the option to lead and convey well. Fayol and mintzberg’s hypothesis are just comparable as in there must be administration in the executives in other to accomplish their objectives, yet there are still some additional aptitudes that can help with authority. Mintzberg saw associations as a ‘open’ framework, so they would consider both the inner and outside variables of the board, while Fayol considered association to be a ‘close’ framework, he focused on the inside elements of the executives. All in all, we can see that administration is an all inclusive wonder; it is notable and done where so ever people’s endeavors are co-ordinated. What's more, that administration apparently is finished by chiefs and these administrators ought to have the option to lead the individuals that are under them and ought to have the option to control, co-ordinate, order, and sort out others so as to accomplish their target.

Monday, August 17, 2020

How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay

How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay An argumentative essay is a type of academic work that helps the writer to demonstrate to readers that certain ideas are more valuable and important than others. Thanks to this paper, readers can be informed about the subject. The main purpose of this work is to persuade readers into agreement with the writers point of view. This type of work is not so easy to write, you should be very logical and bring strong evidence to support your argument. If the writer has a good ability of parsing through the different aspects of the subject and lead readers to the logical and obvious conclusion, this essay will be very effective. Making a strong argument is also a very hard task for any writer because this task always requires a lot of skills and efforts. This essay must provide readers with a good summary of the subject, but in the same way to bring your point of view to the audience and explain why this point of view is the best decision from all others. Thats why its very important to figure out how and where to move in your writing process. If you did everything right, your work should sway other people in their opinion on your essays subject. Argumentative essay: building a successful structure Before starting your work, you have to create the essays structure, so the whole writing process would be logical and well-defined. Here are the main parts that any argumentative essay must have: a) introduction â€" the first paragraph where the author states the subject that will be discussed in the work, without bringing their own opinion; b) main body â€" this is the largest part of the work, it may contain several paragraphs where you bring your opinion and support it with strong evidence; c) conclusion â€" the last and final section of your document where the author has to state their opinion and finish the work logically. Useful phrases and words Sometimes it can be very useful to use certain phrases and words that help to emphasize the facts, or introduce the alternative opinion. Keep in your mind that opinion words (like “in my opinion”, “as I think”, “I believe that”) may only be used in the last part of your essay where you should express your own opinion about the essays subject. You can choose from the next list of words that are used to make certain effect on your readers: How to put the same idea or thought in another way: rather, in other words, in that case if to put this more simply, if to keep it in mind if to look at another angle If you want to add more to a fact you already stated: as well as, besides, again furthermore, in addition, moreover, if to add in reality, if to mention regarding, as for If you are going to emphasize your readers point of view: on the other hand, besides at the same time, however How to introduce an alternative point of view to your readers: on the other hand, by contrast, another way is although, in comparison How to summarize facts and finish your work: in short, therefore to finish, in conclusion, if to summarize facts When you have finished your work, dont forget to proofread it and correct all errors. Better give yourself a couple of days for a short break and start reviewing with fresh eyes. Think if the work is enough logical and persuading. Make sure you have put strong evidence to support the argument. Try to read it to your relatives/colleagues/friends and watch their reaction. Get your feedback and make some changes if needed.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

History and Background on the Yakuza in Japan

They are famous figures in Japanese movies and comic books - the yakuza, sinister gangsters with elaborate tattoos and severed little fingers. What is the historical reality behind the manga icon, though? Early Roots The yakuza originated during the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603 - 1868) with two separate groups of outcasts. The first of those groups were the tekiya, wandering peddlers who traveled from village to village, selling low-quality goods at festivals and markets. Many tekiya belonged to the burakumin social class, a group of outcasts or non-humans, which was actually below the four-tiered Japanese feudal social structure.   In the early 1700s, the tekiya began to organize themselves into tight-knit groups under the leadership of bosses and underbosses. Reinforced by fugitives from the higher classes, the tekiya started to participate in typical organized crime activities such as turf wars and protection rackets. In a tradition that continues to this day, tekiya often served as security during Shinto festivals, and also allocated stalls in the associated fairs in return for protection money. Between 1735 and 1749, the shoguns government sought to calm gang wars between different groups of tekiya and reduce the amount of fraud they practiced by appointing oyabun, or officially sanctioned bosses. The oyabun was allowed to use a surname and to carry a sword, an honor previously allowed only to samurai. Oyabun literally means foster parent, signifying the bosses positions as the heads of their tekiya families. The second group that gave rise to the yakuza was the bakuto, or gamblers. Gambling was strictly forbidden during Tokugawa times and remains illegal in Japan to this day. The bakuto took to the highways, fleecing unsuspecting marks with dice games or with hanafuda card games. They often sported colorful tattoos all over their bodies, which led to the custom of full-body tattooing for modern-day yakuza. From their core business as gamblers, the bakuto branched out naturally into loan sharking and other illegal activities. Even today, specific yakuza gangs may identify themselves as tekiya or bakuto, depending on how they make the majority of their money. They also retain rituals used by the earlier groups as part of their initiation ceremonies. Modern Yakuza Since the end of World War II, yakuza gangs have rebounded in popularity after a lull during the war. The Japanese government estimated in 2007 that there were more than 102,000 yakuza members working in Japan and abroad, in 2,500 different families.  Despite the official end of discrimination against burakumin in 1861, more than 150 years later, many gang members are descendants of that outcast class. Others are ethnic Koreans, who also face considerable discrimination in Japanese society. Traces of the gangs origins can be seen in the signature aspects of yakuza culture today. For example, many yakuza sport full-body tattoos which are made with traditional bamboo or steel needles, rather than modern tattooing guns. The tattooed area may even include the genitals, an incredibly painful tradition. The yakuza members usually remove their shirts while playing cards with each other and display their body art, a nod to the bakuto traditions, although they generally cover up with long sleeves in public. Another feature of yakuza culture is the tradition of yubitsume or severing the joint of the little finger.  Yubitsume is performed as an apology when a yakuza member defies or otherwise displeases his boss.  The guilty party cuts off the top joint of his left pinkie finger and presents it to the boss; additional transgressions lead to the loss of additional finger joints.   This custom originated in Tokugawa times; the loss of finger joints makes the gangsters sword grip weaker, theoretically leading him to depend more on the rest of the group for protection. Today, many yakuza members wear prosthetic fingertips to avoid being conspicuous. The largest yakuza syndicates operating today are the Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi, which includes about half of all active yakuza in Japan; the Sumiyoshi-kai, which originated in Osaka and boasts about 20,000 members; and the Inagawa-kai, out of Tokyo and Yokohama, with 15,000 members. The gangs engage in criminal activities such as international drug-smuggling, human trafficking, and arms smuggling. However, they also hold significant amounts of stock in large, legitimate corporations, and some have close ties with the Japanese business world, the banking sector, and the real estate market. Yakuza and Society Interestingly, after the devastating Kobe earthquake of January 17, 1995, it was the Yamaguchi-gumi who first came to the aid of victims in the gangs home city. Likewise, after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, different yakuza groups sent truck-loads of supplies to the affected area. Another counter-intuitive benefit from the yakuza is the suppression of petty criminals. Kobe and Osaka, with their powerful yakuza syndicates, are among the safest towns in a generally safe nation because small-fry crooks do not trespass on yakuza territory. Despite these surprising social benefits of the yakuza, the Japanese government has cracked down on the gangs in recent decades. In March of 1995, it passed tough new anti-racketeering legislation called the Act for Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Criminal Gang Members. In 2008, the Osaka Securities Exchange purged all of its listed companies that had ties to the yakuza. Since 2009, police across the country have been arresting yakuza bosses and shutting down businesses that cooperate with the gangs. Although the police are making serious efforts to suppress yakuza activity in Japan these days, it seems unlikely that the syndicates will disappear entirely. They have survived for more than 300 years, after all, and they are closely entwined with many aspects of Japanese society and culture.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Corporate Capital Structure Theories And Modern Research Work Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 20 Words: 6114 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Cause and effect essay Did you like this example? Methodology: Regression model is used to analyze the data taken from Pakistani firms in sugar sector, listed on Karachi Stock Exchange, during the period 2001-2008. Keywords: Static trade-off theory, Pecking order theory, Agency cost theory, leverage ratio, listed firms, corporate capital structure. 1. Introduction Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Corporate Capital Structure Theories And Modern Research Work Finance Essay" essay for you Create order In the opening chapter, the background, problem discussion and purpose of the study are presented. The chapter ends with targeted group and limitation of study. 1.1 Background and problem discussion Capital structure is one of the most prolific domains of research in corporate finance. Research is spinning around a few theoretical models of capital structure since over than forty years but could not be able to provide the conclusive assistance to managers and practitioners for choosing between debt and equity in financial decisions. An important question that companies face in need of new finance is whether to raise debt or equity. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the variation in debt ratios across firms. The theories suggest that firms select capital structures depending on attributes that determine the various costs and benefits associated with debt and equity financing. In spite of the continuing theoretical debate on capital structure, there is relatively little empirical evidence on how companies actually select between financing instruments at a given point in time. The problem of capital structure choice has been heavily discussed by international researchers for the last few decades that: What are the determinants of capital structure choice? How do firms choose their capital structures? Given the level of total capital necessary to support a companys activities, is there a way of dividing up that capital into debt and equity that maximizes current firms value? And, if so, what are the critical factors in setting the leverage ratios for a given company? Modigliani and Millers (MM) theory (1958) is considered as fundamental corporate structure model in the modern corporate finance. The theory ascertained the irrelevance of capital structure to firms value in perfect markets, without taxes and transaction costs. Following on the this perfect classification of market, most subsequent research focused to demonstrate that a firms capital structure decision does consider corporate and personal taxes, agency costs, bankruptcy cost, and other frictions. These aspects of corporate environment are referred as determinants of capital structure. Main research in corporate structure is focused on following two competitive theories: The first one is the traditional static trade-off theory, which derives form the Modigliani and Millers (1963) hypothesis of capital structure irrelevance and suggests that firms choose their optimal capital structures by trading off the benefits and costs of debt and equity. The main benefit of debt is tax deductibility of interest, which is balanced against bankruptcy costs (Kim 1978) and agency costs (Jensen and Meckling 1976; Myers 1977). It suggests the existence of a target optimal capital structure, which companies try to reach. . Contrary to the above is the pecking order theory, developed by Myers and Majluf (1984) which emphasis that there is no target level of leverage and companies use debt only when their internal funds are insufficient, firms instead of aiming towards a target-specific capital structure, choose a type of capital according to the following preference order: internal finance, debt, equity. Myers (1984) and Myers and Majluf (1984) by referring to the existence of information asymmetry between managers (insiders) and investors (outsiders), Insiders knowing more about the value of the firm than outsiders, avoid issuing equity when the shares of the company are undervalued. Being aware of the above fact, outsiders tend to interpret a share issue as conveying unfavourable information as to the value of the firm. As a result, managers are reluctant to raise equity capital because it is typically followed by a decrease in valuation of the companys assets. Therefore, retained earnings are the most preferred sources of funds and, if external financing is needed, a firm first seeks low risk debt. According to the pecking order theory, external equity financing is used as a last resort. Titman and Wessels (1988), as well as Rajan and Zingales (1996), whose works are referred to as the most important empirical studies in the field, find strong negative relationships between debt ratios and profitability. This evidence is consistent with the pecking order behaviour and inconsistent with the trade-off theory. One of the latest papers in support of the pecking order theory is by Shyam Sunder and Myers (1999), who explicitly compare it with the static trade-off theory using a panel of US firms. They conclude that, compared to the static trade-off model, the pecking order theory explains more of the variation in actual debt ratios. Even if companies in their sample had well-defined optimal debt ratios, their managers were not trying to obtain them. Many empirical studies have tried to explain the factors that affect on capital structures choice. One of the most renowned initial empirical studies is made by Rajan and Zingales (1996) and they explain the various institutional factors of firms capital structure in the leading industrial countries. Predominantly ongoing debate in corporate finance research sustains the significance of above discussed theories. Majority of research work is based on the facts taken from western and Americans non-financial firms, For example, Rajan and Zingales (1996) study is made on G-7 countries, Titman and Wessels (1988) studied U.S firms, Bevan and Danbolt (1999) studied U.K firms. There are few studies that cover non-financial firms from emerging economies. Although Booth et al (2001) have included Pakistan, in his empirical study of developing countries but Hijazi and Shah (2005) were the first to study determinants of firm-level capital structure in Pakistan. They discuss the all listed non-financial firms from period 1997 to 2001. But so far sugar sector of Pakistan has not been analyzed independently. This report presents an empirical analysis of capital structure of sugar sector in Pakistan with most recent available data. This report attempts to extend the knowledge of capital structure and its determinants in Pakistani companies. The aim of this research is to analyze the determinants of capital structure of sugar sector of the Karachi stock exchange. A variety of variables that are potentially responsible for determining capital structure decisions in companies can be found in the literature. However in this study, the profitability and tangibility are tested as determinants of capital structure in sugar sector of Karachi stock exchange. 2. Literature Review The first paper on capital structure was written by Miller and Modigliani in (1958). They conceptually proved that the value of firm in not dependent upon the capital structure decision given that certain conditions are met. Because of the unrealistic assumptions in MM irrelevance theory, research on capital structure gave birth to other theories. 2.1 Theory of irrelevancy of capital structure Corporate finance theory bases on the Modigliani and Miller (1958) propositions that specify certain conditions under which various corporate financing decisions are irrelevant. The MM propositions provide a base for analysing how financing decisions can create and destroy the value for a corporation. Theory of irrelevancy was presented in an era when research was dominated by assumption that there is no interaction between the firms investment and financial decisions of the firm. Modigliani and Miller states that in a perfect competitive market the value of a firm depends on its operating income and level of business risk. Simply, value of firm does not relate to its capital structure. Financing and risk management choices will not affect firms value if the capital market is perfect. A perfect market has following traits: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ All investors are price takers. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ All market participants can borrow and lend at the risk free rate. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ There are no costs of bankruptcy. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Homogenous risk free classification of firms. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Neutral taxes ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Managers always maximize shareholders wealth. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Information symmetry In their paper, Miller and Modigliani (1958) showed that the value of the firm is independent of the capital structure it takes on (MM irrelevance). They argue that there would be arbitrage opportunities in the perfect capital market if the value of the firm depends on its capital structure. Furthermore, investor can neutralize any capital structure decision of the firms if both investor and firms can borrow at the same rate of interest. Though this theory is based on many unrealistic assumptions, yet it presents the basics theoretical background for advance research (Shah and Hijazi, 2005) The main result of Modigliani and Miller (1958) irrelevance theorem stated that, under certain conditions, the value of the firm is independent of its capital structure. They argued that a firms investment policy has an important effect on firms value, whereas the financing decision is secondary. The theorem was based on the following (explicit and implicit) assumptions; the firms manager is selfless, always acting in investors interests (no agency costs); information about the firm is symmetrically distributed between managers and investors; debt is risk-free. Modigliani and Miller also ignored the effects of corporate taxes. 2.2 The Trade-off Theory Myers (1984) segregated the contemporary opinion on capital structure into two theoretical currents. One of them is the Static Tradeoff Theory (STT), which enlightens that a firm go after a target debt-equity ratio and then behaves in accordance to that. The benefits and expenditures linked with the debt alternative sets this target ratio. These comprises of taxes, cost of bankruptcy as well as agency cost. Like interest expenses are tax-deductible payments, which reduce the tax liability therefore providing cash savings. As a result firms will use a greater level of debt to take the advantage of tax benefits if the tax rates are greater. If the firms incur losses, the tax benefit will weaken away. Thus if the operating earnings are sufficient to meet up the interest payments after that firms will get the benefit of tax deductibility of interest payments. Therefore tax rate and leverage have positive affiliation. The probability of default enhances as the level of debt increases from most favorable level of debt. If the firm leaves beyond this most favorable point, it is more possible that the firm will fail to pay on the repayment of the loan; as a result the control of the firm will be shift as of shareholders to bondholders, they will strive to get back their investments by liquidating the firm. As of this risk a firm may face two kinds of bankruptcy costs; including direct and indirect costs. Direct costs comprises of the administrative and legal expense of the bankruptcy system. Incase firm is large in size; these costs comprise only a small percentage to the firm. Though, for a small firm, fixed costs comprise a higher percentage and are measured as an active variable in choosing the level of debt. Indirect costs arise due to change in investment policies of the firm, if the firm forecast possible financial distress. To stay away from probable bankruptcy, the firm will decreases expendi tures on training and advertisements, research and development etc. Resulting, the customer starts to doubt the firms capability to sustain the similar level of quality in services and goods. This uncertainty appears in the form of a fall in sales and ultimately results in a fall of the firms price of the market share. Modigliani and Miller (1963) states that, firm can have 100% debt in its capital structure for receiving utmost benefit of tax shield, but in reality capital structure compose of entirely with debt is not possible. Consequently, Static Trade Off Theory suggests the limited amount of debt and proposes that the optimal leverage ratio of the firm is determined by the trade-off between tax shields with debt financing against higher bankruptcy cost. According to Static Trade Off Theory, optimal debt ratio varies from firm to firm. Firm having safe and tangible assets and plenty of taxable income have high debt ratio. Such firms will be in a position to provide collateral for debts and in case of default, tangible assets will be apprehended but still firm may be in a place to avoid bankruptcy. According to theory profitable firms take more benefit of the tax shield by debt financing because there is fewer chance for them to go bankrupt therefore profitable firms are capable to raise its debt ratio more than a less profitable firm. 2.3 Signaling Theory There is significant branch of literature centering on the firms financial behavior. This domain of research focuses information distribution as a determinant of corporate capital structure. Their research work can be split in to two distinct categories: one who claims that firm uses capital structure to signal private information to the uninformed agents in capital markets and second who asserts that capital structure that minimizes the problems of information asymmetry can lead the firm to invest sub optimally. Ross (1977), suggested that debt is taken as a means to highlight investors confidence in the company, that is if a company issues the debt it gives a indication to the markets that the firm is expecting positive cash flows in the upcoming time, as the principal and interest expenses on debt are a fixed contractual compulsion that a firm has to pay from its cash flows. Therefore the higher level of debt reveals the managers confidence in future cash flows. Accordingly firms in their efforts to enhance the worth of equity will use high debt in the capital formation. Another impact of the signaling factor is the dilemma of the under pricing of equity. Incase firm issues equity in spite of debt for financing its fresh projects; investors will take the signal negatively: while managers have better information about the firm as compare to investors, they may issue equity once it is overpriced. The effect of information upon the capital structure of a firm can be reflected by its past cumulative requirement for external finance. Myer and Majluf (1984) say that since the investors cant separate the information about the new projects from that of under or over valuation of the current stocks, the capital structure of the firm may help to prevent mis-pricing the equity. Following this argument, firm dont issue equity for financing new project rather they will first fulfill their needs of financing from internally generated funds then issue debt if further financing is required and finally issue equity as a last resort. This has been termed as Pecking Order Theory. In the Rose model, managers know the true distribution of firms returns, but investors do not, mangers benefit if firms securities are more highly valued by the market but are penalized if the firm goes bankrupt. Firms with higher value are predicted to issue more debt as a signal to investors in order to differentiate them from lower value firms. Further model shows positive relation between profitability, debt level, and bankruptcy probability. 2.4 Pecking order theory (POT) Pecking Order Theory (POT) explained by Myers and Majluf (1984) and Myers (1984) states that firms pursue a hierarchy of financial decisions while setting up its capital structure. At first, firms favor to finance their projects with the help of internal financing i.e. retained earnings. If they require external financing, first they go for a bank loan and then for public debt. As a last alternative, the firm will issue equity to finance its project. Therefore as per POT the profitable firms are opt to incur debt for new projects as they have the available internal funds for this project. Myers and Majluf (1984) explained firms are reluctant to issue equity as of asymmetric information between the management and the new stockholders. Myers and Majluf (1984) explain that investors generally perceive that managers use private information to issue risky securities when they are overpriced. This perception of investors leads to the underpricing of new equity issue. Sometimes this underpr icing is very severe and cause substantial loss to the existing shareholders. Because of this, firms will avoid issuing equity for financing new project; rather they will first fulfil their needs of financing from internally generated funds then issue debt if further financing is required and finally issue equity as a last resort. Myers (1977) proposed that firms acting to make best use of the interest of equity holders will be reluctant to issue equity as of the wealth transfer to debt holders, Myers and Majluf (1984) proposed firms are unwilling to issue equity because of an unfavorable selection problem. Rajan and Zingales (1995) explained the determinants of capital structure in their cross-sectional study and examined that at the level of the individual firm, gearing may be enlightened by four key determinants i.e., market-to-book, size, profitability and tangibility. Rajan and Zingales (1995) performed their analysis on the G-7 countries upon a firm-level sample as the results of their regression analysis somewhat vary across the countries; that appear to expose some reasonably strong conclusion. Rajan and Zingales (1995), as well as Titman and Wessels (1988), whose works are referred to as the most important empirical studies in the field, find strong negative relationships between debt ratios and profitability, this is also evidenced by Bevan and Danbolt (2002). This evidence is consistent with the pecking order behavior and inconsistent with the trade-off theory. Given, however, that the analysis is effectively performed as an estimation of a reduced form, such a result masks the underlying demand and supply interaction which is likely to be taking place. Although on the supply-side one would expect that more profitable firms would have better access to debt, the demand for debt may be negatively related to profits. The inability of lenders to distinguish between good and bad risks prevents them from charging variable interest rates dependent on the actual risk. In this event lenders are forced to increase the general cost of borrowing, which will tend to induce a problem of adverse selection as good risks are driven from the market by the high costs of borrowing. Due to this information asymmetry, companies will tend to prefer internal to external financing, where available. 2.5. Agency Theory Jensen and Meckling (1976) are most prominent figures in research of agency cost domain. Jensen and Meckling (1976) discover the probable conflict between managers and shareholders interests as of the managers share of less than 100 percent in the firm. In addition, acting as agents to shareholders, managers try to appropriate wealth away from bondholders to shareholders by taking more debt and investing in risky projects. The managers given role has many implications for the capital structure of a firm. They suggest that as manager possess less then 100% residual claims and it causes conflicts between shareholder and managers. Subsequent type of conflict between debtholder and shareholder can arise when issuance of debt gives more incentive to shareholder. More explicitly, debt investment is inclined towards shareholders, if an investment yields large return, well above the face value of debt, shareholders captures most of the gain. But if investment goes fail and firm approaches to bankruptcy, equityholder just skip away and debtholders bear the whole consequences. According to Jensen and Meckling, agency relationship is an agreement between two parties. One of them (agent) performs certain services on the behalf of other (principal). The problem of stirring an agent to behave as if he were maximizing the principals welfare is rather common. In this relationship both parties are utility maximizer, therefore there is always a chance that agent will not always performs its responsibilities to maximize the benefits of principal. Principal have to restrain this problem by fixing an appropriate level of incentives for agent and to monitor the agents actions (by incurring monitoring cost). In this relation principal incur certain cost, called agency cost, which can explain as the sum of following activities: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ The monitoring expenditures by the principal ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ The bonding expenditures by the agent ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ The residual loss. Principal incurs monitoring cost to limit the unexpected activities of agent. Bonding expense can be describe as in some conditions it will pay the agent to expend resources (bonding costs) to guarantee that he will not take certain actions which would harm the principal or to ensure that the principal will be compensated if he does take such actions. In some cases, even both parties incur the agency cost but still agents certain decision for profit maximization would not increase the welfare of agent. This loss is termed as residual lost and it can be defined as the dollar equivalent of the reduction in welfare experienced by the principal as a result of agents divergence from principals expectation is also a cost of the agency relationship and that is referred as the residual loss. To mitigate the agency problems, various methods have been suggested. Jensen and Meckling (1976) suggest either to increase the ownership of the managers in the firm in order to align the interest of mangers with that of the owners or increase the use of debt which will reduce the equity base and thus increase the percentage of equity owned by mangers. The use of debt increases the chances of bankruptcy and job loss that further motivate managers to use the organizational resources efficiently and reduce their consumption on perks. Jensen (1986) present free-cash flow hypothesis, Free cash flow refers to cash flow available after funding all projects with positive cash flows. Managers having less than 100% stake in business and their compensation tied to firms expansion may try to use the free cash flows sub-optimally and increase firm size resulting in greater compensation. Jensen (1986) propose that this problem can be somehow restricted by increasing the stake of managers in the c ompany or by rising debt in the capital structure, thus dropping the amount of free cash accessible to managers. Harris and Reviv (1990) gave one more reason of using debt in capital structure. They say that management will hide information from shareholders about the liquidation of the firm even if the liquidation will be in the best interest of shareholders because managers want the perpetuation of their service. They suggest that mangers have incentives to pursue strategies that reduce their employment risk. This conflict can be solved by increasing the use of debt financing since bondholders will take control of the firm in case of default as they are powered to do so by the debt indentures. Stulz (1990) said when shareholders cannot observe either the investing decisions of management or the cash flow position in the firm, they will use debt financing. Managers, to maintain credibility, will over-invest if it has extra cash and under-invest if it has limited cash. Stulz (1990) argued that to reduce the cost of underinvestment and overinvestment, the amount of free cash flow should be reduc ed to management by increasing debt financing. The bondholder expropriation hypothesis says that shareholders try to gain advantage at the cost of bondholders. If investment yields high returns, the extra or additional benefits go to shareholders and if the firm fails, the bondholders also sustain the loss. So bondholders share extra risks for no reward. Being agents to shareholders, management tries to invest even in projects that may not have good chances of viability. This phenomenon is termed as overinvestment problem. The losses sustained by shareholders because of this incentive are termed as asset substitution effect. On the other hand, the underinvestment problem refers to the tendency of managers to avoid safe net present value projects in which value of equity may decrease a little, however, increase in value of debt maybe high. This happens because management, being primarily responsible to shareholders, does not concern itself with the overall increase in value of the firm rather it tries to increase the value of equity only [Myers and Majluf (1984)]. Jenson and Meckling (1976) propose that optimal capital structure is reached by trading off the agency costs of debt against the benefits of debt. Dependent and Independent Variables This part is devoted to factors that company ought to take in consideration while deciding capital structure. In general, companies have three sources to raise funds for new investment: use retained earning, issue debt and issue equity. These three sources make the capital and ownership structure. There are certain restraints for utilization of these components of capital structure. Firms do not invest completely by retained earning, for maintaining current assets. Debt is considered as cheaper source, compared to equity issue and it provides tax shelter but access of debt plus with high interest rate leads to bankruptcy. Issue of equity direct changes the ownership structure and give no tax shelter. A firm is said to be unrevealed if it has no debt, while firm with debt liability is leveraged. Objective of this study is to determine factors that have impact on leverage of sugar sector of KSE listed companies. Leverage is dependent variable and this paper is taking two independent variables i.e. tangibility and profitability. Leverage Leverage indicates the proportion of assets financed by debt. The choice of the measure of corporate capital structure may be controversial, as lack of a univocal definition of capital structure led to emergence of a variety of factors used to measure it (kinga mazur 2007). Usually, different forms of debt ratio are used, the differences between the measures concern mainly two things. The first one relates to the nature of debt included, Some authors adopt a more inclusive measure of debt that is total debt, Others work only with long-term debt, Short-term measures are applied rarely (kinga mazur 2007). Additionally, many authors have reported that results achieved with the narrow and the broad concepts are either very similar or better with the use of the broader concept. According to Bevan and Danbolt (2002), focusing on longterm debt when analyzing firms which incorporate a larger percentage of short-term debt into their structure, will yield limited explanatory power. They argue that inclusion of trade credit has a substantial impact on explanatory variables. Fama and French (2002) raised some contradictions arising due to the use of two different debt shares. (Pecking Order and Static Tradeoff) theories, both apply to the debt book value, and there are uncertainties if the predictions may be comprehensive to the debt market value. Following a previous study on non-financial Pakistani listed firms by Shah Hijazi (2005) study uses the book value measure of leverage. The key benefit of debt is that the interest payments are tax-deductible and therefore provides cash savings. The tax shield benefits are not changed by the market value of the debt once it is issued, so the market value of the debt is inappropriate for this study. On the other side, the prime cost of borrowing is the increased probability of bankruptcy. If a firm go down in financial distress and face bankruptcy, at that time the relevant value of the debt is the book value of the debt not the market value of the debt (Shah Hijazi, 2005). Further consideration in choosing the suitable measure of leverage is to take sum debt or just long term debt as a percentage of total assets. despite the fact that capital structure theories believe long term debt as a proxy for financial leverage, shah and Hijazi (2004) employed the measure of total debt as in Pakistan firms have typically short-term financing as the average firm size is small which makes access to capital market hard in terms of cost and technical complexity (Shah and Hijazi 2004). The major resource of debt in Pakistan have been commercial banks, which do not promote long term loans, with approximately no reliance on market based debt until mid 1994 when government stimulated to eliminate the majority of the constraints amongst which one act was to revise company law to allow corporate entities to raise debt straight from the market in form of Term Finance Certificates. So corporate bond market has inadequate record and is in the process of development. This give s explanation why firms on standard in Pakistan have more short term financing than long term financing. Booth et al (1999) also determined in study on determinants of capital structure in developing countries together with Pakistan that the use of short term financing is privileged than long term financing in developing countries. Following Booth et al (2001), Rajan Zingales(1995) and Beven Danbolt (2002),this study calculate leverage (LEV) of firm as the ratio of total liabilities to total assets. Rationale behind using total debt rather than long term or short term debt is to avoid their contradictory relations with leverage. These inconsistent relations are shown by Myers (1984) investigation, positive association of short term debt with financial leverage and negative with long term debt. Independent Variables 1. Tangibility (TG) Assets structure is commonly suggested as a variable since fixed assets can serve as collateral. Greater collateral may alleviate the agency costs of debt (Jensen and Meckling 1976; Myers 1977). That is why, according to the static trade-off theory, there should be a positive relationship between fixed assets and debt. On the other hand, the pecking order theory predicts that firms holding more tangible assets will be less prone to asymmetric information problems and thus less likely to issue debt. This argument suggests a negative relationship. Results obtained for developed countries (Rajan and Zingales 1995; Titman and Wessels 1988) found positive relation between assets structure and debt ratios. According to Bevan and Danbolt (2002), the relationship between assets structure and debt depends on the measure of debt applied. They found assets structure to be positively correlated with long-term debt and negatively correlated with short-term debt elements. According to the static tradeoff approach (jensen and Meckling, 1976), firms with higher fixed assets ratios provide collateral for new loans, supporting debt. On the other hand, according to Pecking Order Theory as argued by Harris and Raviv (1991), firms with low levels of fixed assets would have more troubles of asymmetric information, making them issue more debt, as equity problems would only be probable by under pricing them. Alternatively, firms with higher levels of asset tangibility are normally larger firms that can issue equity at fair prices, so they do not require issuing debt to finance fresh investment. According to them, the anticipated relationship between asset tangibility and debt should then be negative. A firm with a huge sum of fixed assets can simply raise debt at cheaper charges because of the collateral worth of fixed assets. Companies with a higher tangible assets ratio have an advantage to have more loan because loans are presented to them at a comparatively cheaper rate. Therefore this study look forward to have a positive association between tangibility of assets and leverage. In this study tangibility of assets is calculated as the ratio of fixed assets to total assets. Profitability Profitability is a major point of differ among the Pecking Order and Static Tradeoff Theory. According to STT, the higher profitability of the firm provides more explanation to issue debt, as it reduces tax obligation. According to the trade-off hypothesis, firms would choose to have high levels of debt in order to obtain attractive tax shields. This would imply a positive relationship between profitability and debt. Jensen (1986) argues that cash-rich firms should acquire new debt to prevent managers from wasting free cash flows, which implies positive relationship for liquidity. On the other hand, the POT presupposes that larger earnings guide to the enhancement of the major resource firms select to cover their financial shortfall. Given the pecking order hypothesis firms tend to use internally generated funds first and than resort to external financing. This implies that profitable firms will have less amount of leverage [Myers and Majluf (1984)]. The majority of empirical evidence favours the view that profitability and liquidity are negatively correlated with debt ratios (Titman and Wesssels 1988; Rajan and Zingales 1995). This study expect a negative relationship between profitability and leverage. In previous studies, the measure of profitability used was operating earnings before interest payments and income tax (EBIT). But following Shah and Hijazi (2005) this study measure profitability (PF) as the ratio of net income before taxes divided by total assets. Empirical Results Data is selected from Sugar Sector of Karachi Stock Exchange as given by State Bank of Pakistan in the publication Balance Sheet Analysis of Joint Stock Companies Listed on The Karachi Stock Exchange 2001-2006 and 2003-2008. The period of study covers eight years, from 2001 to 2008. However several companies are not included in data because complete information is not available and over all 16 companies data is collected. Data Analysis This atudy uses Regression analysis This paper estimates that Lvit = Bo + BXit + E Lvit = The measure of leverage of a firm i at time t Bo = The intercept of the equation Bi = The change coefficient for xit variables Xit = The different independent variables for leverage of a firm i at time t E = The error term Table 1 Model R Square F Sig 1 .388 79.718 .000 Table 1 shows that F ratio for the regression model is significant, which indicates that regression model is best fit. Total variation in the independent variable explained by the regression model as indicated by Rsquare is 0.388. Table 2 reports the results of regression analysis. Analysing the results for the effects of independent variable on dependent variable, this study find that asset tangibility is negatively correlated with leverage, However, this do not find much evidence that this relationship is statistically Significant. Results indicate that tangibility is not explanatory variable of leverage because regression coefficient is not statistically significant. Thus this study rejects the hypothesis 1 that leverage and tangibility have significant positive relationship. The results thus do not confirm the Jensen and Mecklings (1976) and Myers (1977) version of trade-off theory that debt level should increase with more fixed tangible assets on balance sheet. Profitability is statistically significant and nagatively correlated with leverage as showmn in table 2 and shows that more profitable firms are using less debt and more dependent on internal financingand later on issuing stocks, Consistent with the findings of Titman and Wessels (1988), Rajan and Zingales (1995) all find gearing to be negatively related to the level of profitability. Of all the independent variables chosen for this study, profitability has turn out to be the most statistically significant determinant of capital structure in the context of Pakistan. Profitability is negatively correlated with income. This suggests that profitable firms in Pakistan use more of equity and less debt. This supports the pecking order theory and also approves the earlier hypothesis about profitability that laverage and profitability have significant positive relationship. CONCLUSION This finding is in contrast to the earlier finding by Shah and Hijazi (2004). They found that tangibility was not significantly related to leverage ratio. Financial Situation According to the pecking order hypothesis, firms have a preference for internal finance over external finance. Availability of internal funds is captured by the variables profitability and liquidity. If the pecking order theory holds, these two should be negatively correlated with capital structure. Alternatively, according to the trade-off hypothesis, firms would choose to have high levels of debt in order to obtain attractive tax shields. This would imply a positive relationship between profitability and debt. Jensen (1986) argues that cash-rich firms should acquire new debt to prevent managers from wasting free cash flows, which implies positive relationship for liquidity. Capital Structure Definition DYNAMICS IN THE DETERMINANTS OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE IN THE UK Alan A. Bevan (London Business School) Jo Danbolt (University of Glasgow) Working Paper 2000/9 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE AND ITS DETERMINANTS In their cross-sectional analysis of the determinants of the capital structure for companies in the G-7 economies, Rajan and Zingales (1995) examine the extent to which, at the level of the individual firm, gearing may be explained by four key factors, namely, the level of growth opportunities (proxied for by the ratio of the market value to the book value of total assets), size (measured as the natural logarithm of sales), profitability (earnings before interest, tax and depreciation to total assets), and collateral value (tangibility, proxied by the ratio of fixed to total assets). Profitability Modigliani and Miller (1963) argue that, due to the tax deductibility of interest payments, companies may prefer debt to equity. This would suggest that highly profitable firms would choose to have high levels of debt in order to obtain attractive tax shields. Alternatively, Myers (1984) and Myers and Majluf (1984) predict that, as a result of asymmetric information, companies will prefer internal to external capital sources. Thus a pecking-order is established, whereby companies with high levels of profits tend to finance investments with retained earnings rather than by the raising of debt finance. Consistent with this theory, Titman and Wessels (1988), Rajan and Zingales (1995) all find gearing to be negatively related to the level of profitability. Consequently, we hypothesise: H: The level of gearing is negatively related to the level of profitability. Tangibility Titman and Wessels, and Rajan and Zingales find a significant positive relationship between tangibility and gearing. The Determinants of Capital Structure Choice Sheridan Titman; Roberto Wessels IN RECENT YEARS,A number of theories have been proposed to explain the variation in debt ratios across firms. The theories suggest that firms select capital structure depending on attributes that determine the various costs and benefits associated with debt and equity financing.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Glorious Revolution Free Essays

string(46) " and other questions esigned to the same end\." Factsheet G4 General Series August 2010 House of Commons Information Office The Glorious Revolution Contents Introduction 2 Events of 1685 – 1689 2 1685: succession of James II 2 1686: repeal of the Test Acts 2 1687: Declaration of Indulgence 3 1688: the Glorious Revolution 3 1689: Bill of RIghts 4 Historical Interpretations 4 Appendix A 6 The Declaration of Rights: February 13 1689 6 Further reading 8 Contact information 8 Feedback form 9 The term Glorious Revolution refers to the series of events in 1688-89 which culminated in the exile of King James II and the accession to the throne of William and Mary. It has also been seen as a watershed in the development of the constitution and especially of the role of Parliament. This Factsheet is an attempt to explain why. We will write a custom essay sample on Glorious Revolution or any similar topic only for you Order Now This Factsheet is available on the internet through: http://www. parliament. uk/about/how/guides/facts heets1/ August 2010 FS No. G4 Ed 3. 2 ISSN 0144-4689  © Parliamentary Copyright (House of Commons) 2002 May be reproduced for purposes of private study or research without permission. Reproduction for sale or other commercial purposes not permitted. 2 The Glorious Revolution House of Commons Information Office Factsheet G4 Introduction The Glorious Revolution is a term used to describe the peaceful way in which Parliament asserted its rights over the monarchy in 1688. This Factsheet begins with a chronology of the events that took place between 1685 and 1689 starting with the death of Charles II and culminating in the Bill of Rights in 1689. The Factsheet then looks at some historical interpretations of these events. Events of 1685 – 1689 1685: succession of James II On 6 February Charles II died and was succeeded by his brother, the Catholic James II. In spite of widespread fears of Catholicism, and the previous attempts which had been made to exclude James II from the throne, the succession occurred without incident. In fact on 19 May, when James’s Parliament met, it was overwhelmingly loyalist in composition. The House voted James for life the same revenues his brother had enjoyed. Indeed after the suppressed invasions by the Dukes of Argyle and Monmouth1, the Commons voted additional grants, accompanied by fervent protestations of loyalty. However, this fervour did not last. When the House was recalled after the summer, James asked the Commons for more money for the maintenance of his standing army. He further antagonised them by asking for the repeal of the Test Acts. These were the 1673 Acts that required office holders to prove that they were not Catholics by making a declaration against transubstantiation2. Between 12 and 19 November Parliament declined to repeal the Acts and refused the extra money. In their reply to the King’s speech parliament made it clear that the King’s employment of Catholic officers was â€Å"of the greatest concern to the rights of all your Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects† and begged him to allay their â€Å"apprehensions and jealousies†. On 20 November, James prorogued Parliament, realising that they would not agree to repeal the penal laws against Catholics. 1686: repeal of the Test Acts In April, in a collusive law case, Godden v Hales, the judges ruled that James II could dispense with the Test Acts without the consent of Parliament in individual cases. The King began to introduce Roman Catholics and some dissenters into the army, universities, and even posts within the Anglican Church. On 15 July an Ecclesiastical Commission was set up, to which the King’s powers as Governor of the Church of England were delegated. This Commission could deprive the clergy of their functions, and one of its first acts was to suspend Henry Compton, Bishop of London, because he had refused to suspend a London clergyman who had preached against Roman Catholicism. A papal envoy was even received with honour in Whitehall. In Scotland, the Marquis of Queensberry was dismissed as Royal Commissioner when the Scottish Parliament also failed to repeal the Test Acts: He was replaced by a largely Roman Catholic administration. In these circumstances, it was not surprising that throughout 1686 a growing fear manifested itself among the King’s subjects that James was plotting to impose his own religious views on the country. The author John Evelyn wrote in his diary, â€Å"The Lord Jesus defend his little flock and preserve this threatened Church and nation. Meanwhile, to secure a House of Commons that would support his policies, James began a campaign to appoint sympathetic electors. Deputy Lieutenants, Justices of the Peace and members of municipal corporations (who had the right to vote) were asked whether they would support candidates willing to repeal the penal laws and 1 2 the Duke of Monmouth was the illegitimate son of Charles II The Roman Catholic belief that bread and wine are changed into th e body and blood of Jesus Christ 3 The Glorious Revolution House of Commons Information Office Factsheet G4 Test Acts. On the basis of their answers, many were turned out, to be replaced with Roman Catholics and dissenters. 1687: Declaration of Indulgence On April 5 the King published a Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended all the religious penal laws: â€Å"We cannot but heartily wish, as it will easily be believed, that all the people of our Dominions were members of the Catholic Church, yet we humbly thank Almighty God that it is †¦ our opinion that conscience ought not to be constrained nor people forced in matters of mere religion. These were brave words, but James’s heavy-handed insensitivity to the fears of the majority of his subjects, and his use of the Royal Prerogative without Parliamentary approval were causing deep unease. In July the King received Ferdinando d’Adda as official Papal Nuncio to the Court of St James. Throughout the rest of the year, the Lord Lieutenants were instructed to call together prominent local people and ask them, if they were to be chosen as Members, whether they would approve the repeal of the penal laws, and other questions esigned to the same end. You read "Glorious Revolution" in category "Papers" Most of the existing Lord Lieutenants refused to put these questions, and in August, nine were dismissed by the King. In any case, the surviving answers to the King’s questions show an almost unanimous opposition among the prominent and influential local men who had been canvassed. 1688: the Glorious Revolution The Declaration of Indulgence was reissued by James on April 27 1688, and in an act of gross miscalculation he ordered Anglican clergy to read it from the pulpit to their congregations on two consecutive Sundays. On 18 May the Archbishop of Canterbury and six other bishops refused to read it and petitioned against the order, thus entering Whig history as the Seven Bishops. The petition requested the King to withdraw the order on the grounds that the foundation of his declaration of indulgence was illegal, being based on his suspending power, actions that had often been condemned by Parliament. On June 8 the Seven Bishops were arrested and sent to the Tower to await trial; two days after this, with very poor timing, the Queen gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales, who was baptised according to the Roman Catholic rite. The prospect of an unending Catholic dynasty ruling without Parliament gave rise to ugly rumours that the baby was no true prince but a substitute smuggled into the Queen’s bed in a warming pan. When, a few days afterwards, on 30 June the Seven Bishops were acquitted by jury, huge crowds celebrated in the streets, burning effigies of the Pope, and attacking Catholic establishments. The same day, a â€Å"letter of invitation† was signed by seven prominent politicians (Shrewsbury, Devonshire, Danby, Lumley, the Bishop of London, Henry Sidney and Edward Russell). This invited William of Orange, Protestant son-in-law to James, to intervene to save both Church and State. In fact William had already made his decision to intervene, and on October 1 issued his manifesto from the Hague, listing at length the allegedly illegal actions of the last three years: â€Å"†¦ Therefore it is that we have thought fit to go over to England, and to carry with us a force sufficient, by the blessing of God, to defend us from the violence of those evil councillors ; and we, being desirous that our intention in this way may be rightly understood, have prepared this Declaration†¦ William landed at Torbay in Devon with about 15,000 (mostly Dutch) troops on November 5; the only successful large-scale landing in England since 1485. James still had his standing army, but the enthusiasm with which William was welcomed and the defections from James’s 4 The Glorious Revolution House of Commons Information Office Factsheet G4 army strengthened Williamâ₠¬â„¢s hand. He entered London on December 19, and a few days later James II was allowed to escape for France. 1689: Bill of Rights On 22 January a new Parliament first met. This was known as the Convention Parliament although as it was summoned by William of Orange and not the King, was not strictly speaking a Parliament at all. On February 12, the Convention Parliament issued a Declaration of Rights (see Appendix) which sharply condemned the actions of James II and asserted what it described as â€Å"certain ancient rights and liberties†. The same day, Princess Mary, William’s wife and James’s elder daughter, arrived in London. Lord Halifax, the leader of the Lords, read the Declaration to both William and Mary on the next day, and then offered them the crown. The declaration was later embodied in the Bill of Rights passed by Parliament in December 1689: this further stipulated that the throne be occupied by a Protestant only and that the succession was to rest with (1) the heirs of Mary (2) the heirs of her sister Anne. Historical Interpretations The traditional Whig view of the Glorious Revolution is embodied in Thomas Babington Macaulay’s The History of England from the accession of James the second, 1849-61. For Macaulay the revolution was â€Å"a vindication of our ancient rights† in which it was â€Å"finally decided †¦ hether the popular element, which had, ever since the age of Fitzwalter and de Montfort, been found in English polity, should be destroyed by the monarchical element, or should be suffered to develop itself freely and to become dominant. † Macaulay’s view was that because England had had a preserving revolution in the seventeenth century she had been spared a destroying revolution in t he nineteenth. As the contemporary philosopher John Locke had written, James II was guilty of breaking the â€Å"original contract† between sovereign and people, and had therefore suffered the just wrath of Parliament and people. The Whig view of the Glorious Revolution is therefore simply that it was a triumph for the purity of constitutional law over an outrageous attempt at its perversion, a reaffirmation of the liberties of the English people. However, this interpretation of the Glorious Revolution has not gone unchallenged. To some twentieth century historians it has appeared as a respectable revolution, (e. g. Lucile Pinkham, William and the Respectable Revolution, 1954), involving just the ruling classes and leaving the monarchy in most respects unaltered, hardly a proper revolution at all. For example, the constitutional historian Mark Thompson wrote that apart from determining the succession, the Bill of Rights (which contained the clauses submitted for acceptance by William and Mary) did â€Å"little more than set forth certain points of existing laws and simply secured to Englishmen the rights of which they were already legally possessed†. 4 Others have been even more dismissive: the Russian historian, Viktor F Semenov, regarded it as a mere coup d’etat in its conservatism, its bloodlessness and its legalism5. This Marxist interpretation is given some weight by the fact that (for example) a point-by-point analysis of the Bill of Rights does reveal that in several aspects it is indeed a rather conservative document. It is a declaratory Act, reasserting ancient rights and restoring the monarchy with 3 4 5 in Two Treatises of Government 1688-89 Constitutional History of England, London, 1938 Perevorot 1688 [The Coup of 1688] in The English Bourgeois Revolution of the 17th century, Moscow, 1954 5 The Glorious Revolution House of Commons Information Office Factsheet G4 imitations which (it is possible to argue) differed in no major or significant way from the traditional ones. It is quite tempting to see the events of 1688 as a mere codicil to the interregnum6, of no major importance in themselves. However, this is misleading. The civil wars cannot be regarded as finally settling England’s political future as a parliamentary monarchy. Neither, of course, can the Glorious Revolution of 16 88. However, before 1688 it is possible to see England as beginning to move towards absolutism on the French model. After 1688 this is stopped. The obvious cause of the Glorious Revolution was the stupidity and impatience of James II, who not only frightened the Anglican Church and laity by his moves towards a restoration of Popery, but managed to unite a wide variety of interests in opposition to his clumsy policies. However, it must be remembered that the Prince called in to save the situation had no desire for a weakened monarchy: the agreements of 1688-89 are not, therefore, obviously radical documents. But the fact they exist at all is of great importance. Any move towards popery or absolutism was stopped. Also the Declaration and Bill of Rights restricted the King’s dispensing powers and his standing army, and insisted on the rights of a free Parliament. One development which did result from the Glorious Revolution was the transformation by William III of England’s place in Europe and the wars that this involved, which led to a crucial loss of royal power and establishment of parliamentary supremacy. For instance the Triennial Act of 1694 required Parliaments to be summoned every three years , and thus prevented future monarchs from ruling without a parliament, a favourite practice of the Stuarts – but this is a development seen with hindsight. â€Å"Constitutional government has endured because it became a habit in the eighteenth century, not because it was established by revolution (great or small) in the seventeenth. â€Å"7 6 7 A period between monarchs, i. e. Charles II and William III J Western, Monarch and Revolution, 1972 The Glorious Revolution House of Commons Information Office Factsheet G4 Appendix A The Declaration of Rights: February 13 1689 Whereas the late King James the Second, by the assistance of divers evil counsellors, judges, and ministers employed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties of the kingdom. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspe nding of laws, and the execution of laws, without the consent of parliament. By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for humbly petitioning to be excused concurring to the said assumed power. By issuing and causing to be executed a commission under the Great Seal for erecting a court called the Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes. By levying money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative, for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by parliament. By raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace without the consent of parliament and quartering soldiers contrary to the law. By causing several good subjects, being Protestants, to be disarmed at the same time when papists were both armed and employed contrary to the law. By violating the freedom of election by members to serve in parliament. By prosecutions in the Court of King’s Bench for matters and causes cognizable only in parliament; and by divers other arbitrary and illegal courses. And whereas of late years, partial, corrupt, and unqualified persons have been returned and served on juries in trials, and particularly divers jurors in trials for high treason, which were not freeholders. Excessive bail hath been required of persons committed in criminal cases, to elude the benefit of laws made for the liberty of the subjects. And excessive fines have been imposed; and illegal and cruel punishments inflicted. And several grants and promises made of fines and forfeitures, before any conviction or judgment against the persons, upon whom the same were to be levied. 0. 11. 12. All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes and freedom of this realm. And whereas the said late King James the Second having abdicated the government and the throne being thereby vacant, his Highness the Prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the lords spiritual and temporal, and divers rincipal persons of the Commons) cause letters to be written to the lords spiritual and temporal, being Protestants; and other letters to the several counties, cities, universities, boroughs, and Cinque Ports, for the choosing of such persons to represent them, as were of right to be sent to parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon January 22, 1689 . .. And thereupon the said lords spiritual and temporal and Commons . . . do in the first place (as their ancestors in like case have usually done) for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties, declare: 1. . That the pretended power of suspending of laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is illegal. That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal. 7 The Glorious Revolution House of Commons Information Office Factsheet G4 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. That the commission for erecting the late Courts of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and courts of like nature are illegal and pernicious. That levying money for or to the use of the Crown, by pretence of prerogative, without grant of parliament, for longer time, or in other manner than the same is, or shall be granted, is illegal. That it is the right of the subjects to petition the King, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal. That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of parliament, is against law. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law. That election of members of parliament ought to be free. That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parliament. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. That jurors ought to be duly impannelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening and preserving of the laws, parliaments ought to be frequently held. And they do claim, demand, and insist upon all and singular the premises, as their undoubted rights and liberties; and that no declaration, judgments, doings or proceedings, to the prejudice of the people in any of the said premises, ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into consequent of example. To which demands of their rights they are particularly encouraged by the declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange, as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein. Having therefore an entire confidence that his said Highness the prince of Orange will perfect the deliverance so far advanced by him, and will still preserve them from the violation of their rights, which they have here asserted, and from all other attempts upon their religion, rights and liberties. The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, assembled at Westminster do resolve that William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange be, and be declared, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the Crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their lives, and the life of the survivor of them; and that the sole and full exercise of regal power be only in, and executed by the said Prince of Orange, in the names of the said Prince and Princess, during their joint lives; and after their deceases, the said Crown and royal dignity of the said Kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of the said Princess; and for default of such issue to the Princess of Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body; and for default of such issue to the heirs of the body of the said Prince of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess to accept the same accordingly. How to cite Glorious Revolution, Papers

Monday, May 4, 2020

Explore Shakespeares presentation of Shylock Essay Example For Students

Explore Shakespeares presentation of Shylock Essay Shakespeare has presented Shylock as an interesting character, he appears in only 5 scenes yet to many people he is the center of the plays interest. The audiences feelings and reactions towards Shylock are mixed throughout the play. On the one hand he is hard to like as he is a cruel and miserable villainous man, he is obsessed with money and uses his wealth to overpower people. He is strict and controlling towards his daughter and servant. Although, on the other hand he is a victim as he is treated like dirt for being a Jew, he is spat on in the street and is called a dog. He lives in a society where Jews are lower than Christians and so he is a victim of racial hatred but he is also racist towards Christians himself. These mixed feelings of sympathy and hatred toward Shylock make him a difficult character to deal with. As Shylock is a Jew he is restricted with what professions he can have. One job he can have is to be a money lender, which he does. Through this Shylock has developed an unhealthy obsession with money, I dream of money tonight. Shylock uses his money to ensnare the needy. He charges high interest in the form of bonds which is not right. If you are Jewish you have to wear a red hat when out you also have to live in a certain area of the town called a ghetto. All the Jewish people who live in the ghetto have a curfew and the gates are locked at a certain time. These reasons make us feel sympathetic towards Shylock and this shows he is victimized because of his religion. For theses reasons Shylock hates the Christians. Although Shylock hates Christians he is always happy to deal with them financially. One Christian in particular he hates is a man called Antonio, shylock explains I hates him for he is a Christian, but he also hates him because he lends out money gratis and brings down the rate of usance. Shylock charges Christians high interest in the form of bonds. One Christian he forms a bond with is Antonio Shylock says if he doesnt pay back the money in time he must take a pound of his flesh. If you repay me not on such a day in such a place Be nominated for an equal pound of your fair flesh. This is a horrible thing to even think of doing and changes our feelings yet again towards Shylock. This makes us feel he is a cruel and sick villain. Antonios reaction to this is that Shylock is the devil, and has an evil soul also that he is like a villain with a smiling cheek. Shylock lives with his daughter Jessica and Christian servant Lancelot. It is strange he has a Christian servant as Christians are more respected than the Jews. Shylock is perceived by his daughter as a devil and she explains that our house is hell. Shylock is controlling towards Jessica and overpowers her and Lancelot. Shylock locks the doors so his daughter can not go out. When Shylock is going out he gives Jessica strict orders to behave Thou shalt not gormandize as thou hast done with me What Jessica! And sleep and snore and rend apparel out. Another example of how controlling and strict Shylock is is when Lancelot shouts Why Jessica Shylock replies by saying who bids thee call, I do not bid the call! This is nasty as he is only talking to Jessica he should not need permission. Lancelot can not put up with Shylock any more and so decides to leave I will go before sir, mistress, look out a window, for all this; there will be a Christian by, Will be worth a Jewess eye. Lancelot also explains he is famished in his service. I think Lancelot feels he is treated badly by Shylock and he makes him feel worthless and he doesnt want to be treated like that any more. Lancelot is not the only person to leave Shylock, Jessica leaves too. She leaves because she wants to be with Lorenzo a Christian man, Jessica has fallen in love with him and wants to be with him, love is blind and lovers can not see the pretty follies. She knows that her father would not approve of her being with a Christian so she has no choice but to leave to be with him. She leaves when Shylock is not in and she robs him blind taking all of his savings, here, take this casket; it is worth the pains. In a way this makes us feel sorry for shylock as he has lost his money and his daughter, but it also makes you think from the way he has acted he deserves it. Stable Buck Nigger - OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck EssayIt is quite sick that he can do it without even thinking twice. Although people are shouting at him he just keeps repeating he has the bond. A young lawyer then enters the court and says that in the bond it clearly says a pound of flesh. But the lawyer then says This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are a pound of flesh: Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh; But in the cutting of it if thou dost shed one drop of blood, thy lands and goods are, by in the laws of Venice, confiscate. There is nothing that Shylock can do and so he says let Antonio free but the lawyer still says he must loose everything to the courts. Shylock pleads with the Lawyer but it gets him nowhere. I dont think this was fair as Shylock agreed to let him go in the end and it makes us feel really sorry for him as there was nothing he could do and he must have felt really helpless. So our feelings are really mixed at the end of this scene. Although we are happy for Antonio as his life is spared. We are also happy about the fact that Shylock has got what was coming to him but when you put yourself in his position you realize how he must feel. This incident made Shylock an isolated victim of racial hatred even the duke and Judge are biased towards him and Shylock has spoken with great dignity for equality. So yet again our feelings of sympathy and hatred towards Shylock are mixed. When Shylock was outwitted in court his behavior changed immediately he says I take this offer then: pay the bond thrice, and let the Christian go. Which is what he defiantly would not have wanted to do as he was really set on going threw with the bond. Shylocks final punishment is that he has to give half of everything he owns to the courts of Venice. I dont feel it was a fair or just punishment for Shylock as in the end he let Antonio free and he was still punished by loosing his home and money. Shylock is not given any mercy as the judge says Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture. Shylock prays Give me principal, and let me go. He is humiliated and harassed in front of the whole court for being a Jew. When Shylock exits the stage he says I am not well this line is very powerful because is makes you wonder what is going to happen and it makes you imagine how the story might end (cliffhanger. ) I think Shylock means he is not physically ill he is mentally ill, and may possibly be thinking of committing suicide. I think he may be planning to do this because he has not really got a lot going for him he has lost his home, his money, his daughter and he has no friends. I have been able to establish many different aspects about Shylocks character throughout the play, he is a bitter man and loves money but has had many problems in his life that make us feel sympathetic for him. He is not just an average stage villain he is more complex and you can really understand how he feels in parts of the play. Although he is a cruel man who treats people horribly including his daughter and he uses his money to his advantage to overpower people. Also we feel sorry for him because he looses his daughter and in the end he looses everything his home and money. So throughout the play we feel sympathetic but at the same time we think he deserves it. Shylock is a very memorable character as he has such an impact on many characters and is a main part of the plays interest. Shylock provokes many issues in the play and causes many problems with people. Shakespeare has displayed Shylock as a powerful character as when he enters the stage he does it in an impacting way and controls the conversations. I think I will always remember Shylock as the character who I didnt really understand and he had many issues.