The Neo-Malthusian Population theory Essay Example for Free

The Neo-Malthusian Population theory Essay As stated the Neo-Malthusian population theory claims that poor nations are stuck in a cycle of poverty which they cant get out of unless some sort of preventative measures of population checks are engaged. The Malthusian model was developed two centuries ago by a man named Thomas Malthus. Malthuss model is based upon a relationship between both population growth as well as economic development. Empirical studies now-a-days show that the population theory model is quite flawed because of many factors that render even the two main variables in the theory (population growth and level of per-capita income) not fit to be used within the same conceptual frame work as there is no clear link between them. Egypt and Kuwait are perfect examples where the model would clearly fail to explain the unexpected link between population growth rate and comparative economic development respectively. As hitherto stated the Malthusian population theory is based on two factors; population growth and economic development. Primarily the theory at its core states that there is a tendency in countries unless there is a problem with the food supply that its population is going to double every 30 to 40 years. Based on this model of doubling growth rate; because of fixed factors such as land, food supplies and the population having less land to work on to because of the proposed growth rate, the individuals contribution to food production would go down. The theory further proposes that because the food supply could not match the growing population per capita incomes based at the time on an agrarian society, the end result accordingly would be a stable population which is barely leading a stable population that is living barely at subsistence level. Malthus felt that according to his theory that the only way to avoid being stuck in this loop of abject poverty was to engage in what he called moral restraint. Moral restraint is basically acknowledging the fact that our contribution to the population is leading the populous to a state of economic deprivation. In an indirect way as Todaro puts it Malthus was the father of the birth control movement, he furthermore stated that we are morally obligated to regulate birth rate because of the economic and social repercussions that accompany that growth. Modern day economists have named  Malthuss theory perhaps justifiably as the Malthusian population trap; justifiably named in my opinion because of the difficulty is reducing birthrates let alone the actual size of the population and escaping abject poverty. The Malthusian population theory is based upon two important factors that formulate its ideology: population and per capita income (based on aggregate production). The theory in detail states that at a very low level of per capita income, the population change will be zero and a stable population will exist, this is seen in the case of absolute poverty where the birth rates are equivalent to the death rates. The equilibrium between birth rates and death rates is reached quite simply because higher incomes means less starvation and disease so the more the population expands the more people will die because of starvation or other causes because there is only so much food to cover their needs. The theory also states that if the population achieves its maximum rate at an even higher per capita income it is still assumed that the population will remain at the same size and unlikely that any real change will be noticed until higher per capita incomes are realized. The other part to the theory states that there is a link between growth rates of aggregate income (when there is no population growth) and the levels of per capita income. A directly proportionate conclusion might easily be reached that if aggregate income is rising then per capita income has to be increasing and if the total population is growing faster than the total income, per capita income must be falling. The ideology of the theory doesnt stop here because it is based on the positive assumption that saving increases with the incremental increase of income. Quite simply countries that have a higher per capita income are assumed to be able to generate a higher savings rate and rationally more money is available for investment. It is assumed though that beyond a certain point in per capita income is supposed to level off and in some cases decline as new investments are made and more people are forced to work with fixed amount of land and resources. This is called the point of diminishing returns in the Malthusian model, the aggregate income growth is analogous of the total production curve, at least  thats how the basic theory of production goes. Quite simply when the population is growing faster than actual income, per capita will always fall, similarly when income grows faster than population it causes the equilibrium per capita income to rise. The pretence of the theory states that poor nations will never be able to rise above subsistence levels of per capita unless they apply a system of checks (birth control) upon the population. Without birth control nature has its own positive checks such as starvation, disease, wars that will do what humans fail to accomplish in birth control. The Malthusian trap as simple and as appealing as a theory concerning the relationship between population growth and economic development goes is based on simplistic assumption that Todaro and anyone with logic can curtail do not stand the test of empirical verifications. Malthus completely ignores the huge impact that technology has on hindering the growth-inhibiting factors of rapid population increase. Malthus had no way of knowing 200 years ago the effects that technology has on either raising the quality of land or the advancements that were to be made to tools to further enhance the production of the same amount of land. Rapid and continuing technological progress can be presented by a clear upward shift of income growth. Per capita has to grow over time hence giving a chance to all countries in escaping the Malthusian population trap. The second criticism of the trap is that he assumes that national rates of population increase are directly related to national per capita income. Clear research in LDCs show that there is no clear link between population growth rates and level of per capita income. With the institution of modern medicine and public health programs, death rates have fallen lower with no real relationship to per capita income levels. The real measure is not aggregate level of per capita but rather the real factor effecting population growth is how the income is distributed. If we were to take Egypt for example as you had suggested we would find that it had been trying to implement birth control programs as early as  1966, even though Egypt is looked upon as a successful model in decreasing its population, per capita income more than anything has been going down, simply because a population cant be decreased over night. Another important point that falsifies the model when we look at Egypt we find a rather strong economic buffer for the poor since expensive goods like bread and many medicines are subsidized by the government making it more likely that the population will not be naturally thinned out by means of positive checks as the theory curtails. If we were to look at purchasing power per capita of Kuwait we would find it $ 15,000 as apposed to Egypts measly $ 3,700. Kuwait also has a growth rate of 3.33 % as apposed to Egypts 1.66 %. The mere stating of these numbers completely falsifies the Malthusian model by all means here is a country like Egypt with a low population growth rate and a very low per capita income whereas Kuwait has a much higher growth rate but also five time the per capita income that Egypt posses. The theory overlooked not only technological aspects but completely over looked rentee economies like Kuwait have populations that can never be effected by supply of food. The Malthusian model is well based in theory and looks quite good on paper however it hardly holds water when applied to either real life nations or when critically analyzed as I have attempted to during the writing of this paper. Quite notably countries like Egypt and Kuwait completely bring the theory to its feet without much effort. I believe that when Malthus wrote his theory 200 years ago this was by all means a complete revolution even in the ideology of thought when he tried to find out why some nations remained poor no matter what they did.

Dance brazil :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dance Brazil Dance Brazil performs with flexibility and power, which is evident throughout its entirety. Whether the company is lying on the floor or leaping through the air, they command their space. However, throughout the production they also incorporate one important factor, their culture. In the introduction of the show, the dancers demonstrate their religious ways by presenting the sign of the cross to the people. Throughout the scene, the costumes that were being worn were all directly related to the colors of various gods. Throughout one scene, the dancers become possessed, one man loses control of his emotions, and lands into another man’s arms. One could possible interpret that this man is landing into the arms of god. The following scene featured a woman dressed in blue. I appreciated the way their movements resembled water that recedes after the tide; movements that matched the full and vibrant sound of the band. I also valued the bleak positioning, woman facing forward, man facing away, with their backs against each other. The man repeatedly placed his hand on the woman, only to have her definitively push him away. This control at the beginning contrasted with a kind of compliance at the end, as the woman was carried off on the back of the man. The music pulled their bodies. They were elegant yet powerful at the same time. They had a superior blend of a partnership ,they danced like a partnership without it being a partnership dance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Overall, I took pleasure in the production â€Å"Dance Brazil†. My first thoughts were negative, I did not expect this dance to be as exciting and interesting as it truly was.

Online learning Essay

Online learning tools are of great utility; they are widely used in learning practice. Market offers a variety of solutions that differ in their level of sophistication and functions offered. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three available solutions and model their utilization in learning process, namely FlexTaining, Rollbook, and Moodle. The FlexTraining Total e-Learning Solution by National Training Systems is effective software for e-learning management. Since online education is becoming increasingly more common and popular, e-learning management solutions have gradually started to gain greater relevance. The software is utile and user-friendly, therefore it can be effectively used during the online learning phase. It provides for a possibility to incorporate various file formats, including Video, PowerPoint, Flash, and PDF; it can be used to crate a truly multimedia environment. The solution has won recognition from leading educational institutions, major multinational companies, and governmental agencies alike. The software is powering e-learning for Duke University, Stanford University, Microsoft, Phillips, U. S. Department of Labor, U. S. Department of Air Force, and a host of other institutions and organizations. The tools offered by the FlexTraining Total e-Learning Solution include Visual Course Builder (allows creating classes), Assessment Tool (allows creating online tests), FlexAuthoring (allows developing course content), and Reporting and Analysis (allows tracking students’ performance). While most of the functions offered by the FlexTraining are available in other software solutions, its unique feature and most useful tool is, in my opinion, FlexAuthoring. It offers template-based authoring for creating lesson plans and course content. It is an invaluable tool for inexperienced teachers who need guidance in structuring their material. Another powerful feature of the FlexTraining is pre- and post-assessment. It is useful as a monitoring tool that enables teachers to determine whether training needs have been fulfilled. It can further become the basis for teachers’ self-assessment and continuous improvement. Availability of interactive exercises is also a useful feature of the FlexTraining. It compensates for lack of face-to-face contact with a teacher; lack of such contact is often cited as one of the biggest disadvantages of distance education. In addition, the software offers opportunities for self-paced training, thus being accommodating students’ preferences for instructor-led or individual learning. Searchable document libraries make navigation easier both for teachers and students. All these functions can be of enormous use during the online learning phase and are enabling for students in their work in online environment. Rollbook by Intellum is usually used for corporate training, yet it has a number of unique features that can be of great utility in classroom settings. This software solution is rather simple as compared with other programs available on the market. Its unique features include a calendar (a personal schedule of events and authorized sessions), a branching group structure (a structure that allows forming smaller subgroups within large groups and customizing functions such as reports or mailing lists for these smaller groups), learning paths (a function that groups relevant courses into learning tracks) and design of course certificates. An alterative to the proprietary FlexTraining and Rollbook is the open source solution called Moodle. It offers most of the functions FlexTraining and Rollbook have (such as chat, forum, polls, assignments, quizzes, etc. ), yet it has several advantages. The strength of all open source technologies, apart from the apparent cost cutting, is the ability of different software developers to continuously improve and update solutions. Moodle’s focus is on interaction between teacher and students and especially among students. For instance, similar courses can be grouped together as a meta course, allowing students fro different yet related course to interact with each other. Moddle is also better suited to accommodate multimedia: students can upload multiple files in any format as one assignment (for instance, if a research project consists of a text file, several images, and a video, this function is very handy). All the aforementioned resources enable students to use the Internet in an ethical, legal, and educational way. All these software packages, by virtue of their functional orientation, are empowering tools, since e-learning makes education more available and affordable for all. Their focus on continuous education is another significant advantage of online learning method. The FlexTraining software also allows teachers to check for plagiarism. All the documents uploaded to the system by students can be compared with Internet sources, sources from the Document Library, and previous works submitted by the same student or other students. This function gives teacher an opportunity to detect plagiarism immediately and take appropriate administrative action. Plagiarism is one of the most widespread and harmful examples of dishonest academic practices. Although this phenomenon is condemned by all educational institutions, plagiarism still pervades many spheres of education. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to ensure that student’s academic essays and papers are original. A student who engages in plagiarism deprives him/herself of the opportunity to benefit fully from the education s/he is undertaking. Since every assignment is designed in order to help students to gain deeper knowledge of a certain subject, evading independent research and analysis hinders the continuity and integrity of the education process. Copying the ideas of other people without proper acknowledgement is a practice that all teachers should try to eliminate completely. This is possible to do only with special software. Helping students to understand and avoid plagiarism is the key to introducing them to Internet use following the principles of ethical, legal, and educational approaches. As concerns Moodle, its open source philosophy is the software’s added value: together with better quality, it makes students reflect on the differences between proprietary and open source programs. Such a critical reflection on the role of the Internet in challenging the fundamentals of capitalism and empowering creative commons might make students more aware of the problems of Internet governance and ethical use of this powerful tool for the benefits of all and not only privileged few. Rollbook and Moodle have a closer focus on individual and peer-to-peer learning, as opposed to the FlexTraining’s focus on instruction-led teaching and strict progress monitoring. Thus, Rollbook and Moodle are better suited to educate students about Internet’s ability to offer innumerable opportunities for individual and collective learning. References Intellum, Inc. (2008). ‘Hosted Learning Management System. ’ Retrieved July 4, 2008, ffrom http://www. intellum. com/web2006/hosted_lms National Training Systems. (2008). ‘FlexTraining Total E-Learning Software Solution. ’ Retrieved July 3, 2008, from http://www. flextraining. com N/a. (N/d). ‘Moodle. ’ Retrieved July 3, 2008, from http://moodle. org

A Brief Biography of Malcolm X - 698 Words

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