The Negro Motorist Green Book Aided Black Travelers During Segregation

The Negro Motorist Green Book Aided Black Travelers During Segregation The Negro Motorist Green Book was a paperback guide published for black motorists traveling in the United States  in an era when they might be denied service or even find themselves threatened  in many locations. The creator of the guide, Harlem resident Victor H.  Green, began producing the book in the 1930s as a part-time project, but growing demand for its information made it an enduring business. By the 1940s the Green Book, as it was known by its loyal readers, was being sold at newsstands, at  Esso gas stations, and also by mail order. Publication of the Green Book continued into the 1960s, when it was hoped legislation prompted by the Civil Rights Movement would finally make it unnecessary. Copies of the original books are  valuable collectors items today, and facsimile editions are sold via the internet. A number of editions have been digitized and placed online as libraries and museums have come to appreciate them as noteworthy artifacts of Americas past. Origin of the Green Book According to 1956 edition of the Green Book, which contained a brief essay on the publications history, the idea first came to Victor H. Green sometime in 1932. Green, from his own experience and those of friends, knew of painful embarrassments suffered which ruined a vacation or business trip. That was a genteel way of expressing the obvious. Driving while black in 1930s America could be worse than uncomfortable; it could be dangerous. In the Jim Crow era, many restaurants would not allow black patrons. The same was true of hotels, and non-white travelers might be forced to sleep by the side of the road. Even filling stations might discriminate, so black travelers could find themselves running out of fuel while on a trip. In some parts of the country, the phenomenon of sundown towns, localities where black travelers were warned not to spend the night, persisted well into the 20th century. Even in places that did not blatantly proclaim bigoted attitudes, black motorists could be intimidated by locals  or harassed  by the police. Green, whose day job was working for the Post Office in Harlem, decided to compile a reliable listing of establishments African American motorists could stop and not be treated as second-class citizens. He began collecting information, and in 1936 he published the first edition of what he titled The Negro Motorist Green Book. The first edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book sold for 25 cents and was intended for a local audience. It featured advertisements for establishments that welcomed African American patrons and were within a days drive of New York City. The introduction to each annual edition of the Green Book requested that readers write in with ideas and suggestions. That request drew responses, and alerted Green to the idea that his book would be useful far beyond New York City. At the time of the first wave of the Great Migration, black Americans might be traveling to visit relatives in distant states. In time the Green Book began covering more territory, and eventually the listings included much of the country. Victor H. Greens company eventually sold about 20,000 copies of the book each year. What the Reader Saw The books were utilitarian, resembling  a small phone book that could be kept handy in an automobiles glove compartment. By the 1950s dozens of pages of listings were organized by state and then by town. The tone of the books tended to be  upbeat and cheerful, giving an optimistic look at what black travelers may encounter on the open road. The  intended audience, of course, would be all too familiar with discrimination or dangers they might encounter and did not need to have it stated explicitly. In a typical example, the book would  have listed one or two hotels (or tourist homes) that accepted black travelers, and perhaps a restaurant that did not discriminate. The sparse listings might appear unimpressive to a reader today. But to someone traveling through an unfamiliar part of the country and seeking accommodations, that basic information could be extraordinarily useful. In the 1948 edition the editors expressed their wish that the Green Book would one day be obsolete: There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States. It will be a great day for us to suspend this publication for then we can go wherever we please, and without embarrassment. But until that time comes we shall continue to publish this information for your convenience each year. The books continued to add more listings with each edition, and beginning in 1952 the title was changed to The Negro Travelers Green Book. The last edition was published in 1967. Legacy of the Green Book The Green Book was a valuable coping mechanism. It made life easier, it may have even saved lives,  and theres no doubt it was deeply appreciated by many travelers over many years. Yet, as a simple paperback book, it tended not to attract attention. Its importance was overlooked for many years. That has changed.   In recent years researchers have sought out the locations mentioned in the Green Books listings. Elderly people who recall their families using the books have provided accounts of its usefulness. A playwright, Calvin Alexander Ramsey, plans to release a documentary film on the Green Book. In 2011 Ramsey published a childrens book, Ruth and the Green Book, which tells the story of an African American family driving from Chicago to visit relatives in Alabama. After being refused the keys to the restroom of a gas station, the mother of the family explains the unjust laws to her young daughter, Ruth. The family encounters an attendant at an Esso station who sells them a copy of the Green Book, and using the book makes their journey much more pleasant. (Standard Oils gas stations, known as Esso, were known for not discriminating and helped promote the Green Book.) The New York Public Library has a collection of scanned Green Books which can be read online. As the books eventually went out of date and would be  discarded, original editions tend to be rare. In 2015, a copy of the 1941 edition of the  Green Book was placed for sale at Swann Auction Galleries and sold for $22,500. According to an article in the New York Times, the buyer was the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture.

How to Ace Your Econometrics Test

How to Ace Your Econometrics Test Econometrics is the most difficult course for economics majors. These tips should help you triumph over your econometrics test. If you can ace Econometrics, you can pass any Economics course. Difficulty: Easy Time Required: As Little Time As Possible Heres How Find out the material covered on the test! Econometrics tests tend to be either mainly theory or mainly computational. Each one should be studied differently.Find out if youll be allowed to have a formula sheet for the exam. Will one be provided for you, or will you be able to bring your own cheat sheet of econometric and statistical formulas?DO NOT wait until the night before to create an econometrics cheat sheet. Create it as youre studying, and use it when youre solving practice problems, so youll be very familiar with your sheet.Have a legible and organized econometrics cheat sheet. On a stressful test, you dont want to be searching for a term or trying to decipher the writing. This is critical for tests with time limits.Make songs to help you remember definitions. Its silly, but it works! [sings] Correlation is covariance over the product of their deviations. I make little drum beats with my thumb (seriously).MOST IMPORTANT: If assigned practice problems, DO THEM! Most econometr ics test questions are quite similar to suggested questions. Students score at least 20% better by doing them in my experience. Try to get old econometrics exams from exam banks, libraries, or former students. These are particularly useful if the same economics professor has taught the course for many years.Talk to former students of the course. Theyll know the examination style of the professor and may be able to provide useful tips. Find out if his tests are from the book or from the lectures.Try to make your study environment as similar as possible to the econometrics test situation. If you drink coffee while studying see if you can have a coffee in the exam room or have some right before.If your test is in the morning, study in the morning if possible. Being comfortable with a situation will prevent you from panicking and forgetting what youve learned.Try to figure out what questions the professor could ask, then answer them. Youd be surprised how often your guesses are correct. There are only so many different econometrics questions.DO NOT pull an all nighter and cheat yourself out of sleep. The extra ho urs of sleep will help you more than a couple hours of cramming. You need all your strength to slay the econometrics demon! Dont study the hour before the test. It never works and it will just get you nervous. Do what you can to stay relaxed. I find playing a video game helps me, but find something that works for you.When you get the test, read all the questions first, and answer the one you think is easiest immediately. That will put you in a positive frame of mind for the other questions.Dont spend too much time on one question. Feel free to skip a part of a question and go on to something else. Ive seen too many good students unnecessarily run out of time. Tips Sometimes it will seem impossible to find a piece of information you need, but you can do it if youre a little creative. If you need to get the standard error, you can do it if you know the t-stat.Wear layered clothing because you never know how hot or cold the room will be. I usually wear a sweater with a t-shirt under it, so I can take the sweater off if the room is warm.Dont program formulas into your calculator if youre not allowed to. We often notice and its not worth getting kicked out of school for. Cheat is common in econometrics, so profs watch for it.The time you spend on a question should be proportional to the percentage of marks it is worth. Dont spend a lot of time on small questions!Dont get too upset with yourself if you dont do well. Sometimes it just isnt your day. Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan lost 294 games, so dont worry if you lose a test on occasion. What You Need pencileraserpenscalculator (if allowed)cheat sheet (if allowed)a confident attitude

Dance in Primitive cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Dance in Primitive cultures - Essay Example Such forces are also said to have promoted fertility, controlled weather, and led to success in warfare. As a result, the forces had a say in tribal well-being and human survival. Originally, man used dance to implore god on various occasions that were crucial in life (West Virginia University 20). Moreover, it is also thought that dance in these cultures begun as a gesture. This was used as a form of communication. Afterward, there was use of gestures such as facial expressions and combination of a guttural sound and action to reinforce an ideal (West Virginia University 20). As a result, dance was used as a means of telling stories or passing information. However, in this era, there was lack of proper speech. As a result, man was forced to use recognizable gesture. For success, man was forced to supplement movements with the cries of animals and other natural sounds. On the other hand, there was inspiration to the primitive dance. The most significant source of inspiration was the birds and animals (West Virginia University 21). Primitive man was knowledgeable of living things that surrounded him as he interacted with them. Man fought with living things or survival, hunted for food and clothing and managed to know their character (West Virginia University 21). Primitive people also had an animist religion; they thought animals had souls and were similar to man. The perception was linked to natural phenomenon that surrounded man such the sun and death. Primitive man also has an opportunity to dance with animals. Man insects and some animals perform ritualized movement patterns that appear almost similar to man conception of dance. Hence, the dance-like movements of animals inspired the dance of primitive man. On the other hand, dance played a significant role in the primitive society. One of such role was in religion. In the performance of rituals, ancient man simpler imitative movements became changed

Suez Canal Crisis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Suez Canal Crisis - Research Paper Example This canal is not a natural one; it was constructed in 1869 in order to transport goods from Europe and Asia. Earlier the goods transportation between Europe and Africa was extremely difficult since the transportation ships forced to navigate around Africa to reach Europe from Asia. The construction of Suez Canal made the transportation of good between these two regions easier. Suez Canal crisis occurred in 1956 when a war broke out between France, Britain, and Israel against Egypt. The invasion of Egypt by Israel caused problems in the good transportation between Asia and Europe which forced Britain and France to issue a joint ultimatum to the concerning parties; Egypt and Israel. They started to bomb Egypt shortly after the ultimatum given which is believed to be a preplanned attack with the knowledge of Israel. This paper analyses the various dimensions of the Suez Canal crisis developed in 1956 with the help of topic such as the relationships between Israel and Egypt, relationshi ps between Eden and Nasser, the effects of cold war, history of Suez canal etc. Historically, the relationship between Egypt and Israel remains a strained one. Bible has many references for the strained relationships between Israel and Egypt. It is difficult for these two countries to establish strong relationships in future also because of their immense differences in culture and religious beliefs. Jews perceive Arabs as their enemies and their enmity started long time back. Most of the years of the twentieth century, Egypt was ruled by Britain. Egyptians were second class citizens in their home land during the colonial rule of Britain which developed dissatisfaction against the British among the Egyptian public. Violence against the British started to grow in Egypt as a result of their protest against colonial rule. British Prime Minister Antony Eden tried to deal this violence by increasing the number of British troops in Egypt. Nasser responded to Eden’s efforts by formin g a Revolutionary Command Council in Egypt. It was difficult for Britain to bear the huge cost of military operations in Egypt because of the financial problems developed in Britain during this period. The relationship between President Nasser and Prime Minister Antony Eden was not so good during the Suez Canal crisis period. They met each other in 1955 in Cairo in order to rectify the problems between them; however neither of them trusted each other and the strained relationship continued even after the meeting. Eden tried to force Nasser from establishing a strong relationship with the communist Soviet Union. He also urged Nasser to stop anti-British radio broadcasts. However, Eden failed to get a positive response from Nasser on both the issues. â€Å"Even the dinner put on for Nasser at the British Embassy was a failure as Nasser arrived in military uniform to be greeted by Eden in full evening dress†2. Nasser treated Eden’s efforts as a deliberate attempt to humil iate him and whatever the positives derived out of this meeting was destroyed because of this incident. Britain forced to end their colonial rule in Egypt and Egypt became an independent state in 1953 even though British presence continued till 1956. Nasser became the president of Egypt in 1954. The nationalization of Suez Canal was the immediate action taken by Nasser after assuming the president’s post which resulted in the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. History of Suez Canal As mentioned earlier, Suez Canal was

Legalization of marijuana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Legalization of marijuana - Essay Example Despite the whole debate surrounding support for legalizing it, criticism over the effects or consequences emanating from its use has also been critical in the decision making process. In this regard, the decision of whether to legalize marijuana or not highly depends on the measure of whether there are more advantages or disadvantages of legalizing it. Earleywine (67) argued that although marijuana has medicinal value attached to it, many things have to be put into consideration when making the decision of whether to legalize it or not. Political, social economic and health issues are some of the facets to be considered when making the decision. In light of this, there are different tenets that have to be articulated upon to come up with sound decision. If marijuana is to be legalized, it translates to economic advantage to people that will be farming and retailing it. This is a great accomplishment as it translates to improved lives of the people to be involved in the business. In fact, the government will also have the opportunity of generating revenue from the tax collected from the marijuana business. People involved in the marijuana business will be better placed in taking care of their basic needs and other requirements such as their health, education as well as different development initiatives. In addition, if marijuana will be successfully legalized, the health sector will have a boost in terms of getting medicinal value from marijuana. In fact, health facilities will economically benefit from the drug especially from the money obtained from the sale of prescription marijuana. If marijuana is legalized, there will be a need to conduct extensive medicinal research to come up with appropriate prescription drugs from marijuana. Thus, many people involved in the research will equally benefit since this will act as a form of employment to them. On the other hand, people

Economics Essays Financial System Banking

Economics Essays Financial System Banking Capital Adequacy Directive Abstract In the recent years, it seems that the supervisors have increased the attention on the capital adequacy of banking intuitions in order to enhance and maintain the stability of financial system. The purpose of the present paper is to investigate into the merits as well as disadvantages of the Capital Adequacy Directive implementation in the Switzerland economy for the behaviors of Swiss banks and shed some light on whether and how Swiss bank react to constraints placed by the regulator on their capital. The analysis and evidences given will clarify the finding is that while the Swiss banks enjoy the typical merits that have been brought by this innovation, some drawbacks they might endure could not be neglected, which implies the need for good policy guidelines of Government and Central Bank. Chapter 1 Introduction We do realize there are better moments to introduce substantial increases in capital requirements. Nout Wellink (April, 2008), head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision During the last 30 years, a wide range of countries have introduced the formalized capital requirement. This innovation seemed to be spearheaded by the adoption of minimum capital requirement in some particular states (for instance, the US and the UK in 1981). However, with the first introduction of Basel Accord in 1998, the common minimum capital requirements were actually adopted by G-10. To date, the Accord has been implemented by over 100 countries world-wide (Allen, 2004). The implementation process of Capital Adequacy Directive (CAD) on the one hand produced many successes in practice as it helps to limit risk-taking relative to capital and to prevent systemic instabilities arising from large-scale banking failures, thereby enhancing the productivity, efficiency, safety and soundness of domestic banking system, in general, global financial system. On the other hand, it also has generated several important failures and unintended consequences as it might reduce the lending ability of commercial banks which in turn directly influences to their competitiveness relative to other forms of intermediation. This study attempts to measure the cost and benefits of Capital Adequacy Directive and apply it to the population of commercial banks that operated in Switzerland. The result suggests that even though some negative impacts of CAD is obviously seen, the implementation of CAD in Swiss banking system is essentially and truly needed. As the matter of fact, the advantages that Swiss commercial banks have achieved due to the effectiveness of capital adequacy regulation outweigh the disadvantages they might suffer. The paper is divided into 4 sections. Chapter 2 introduces the historical review and general theory of Capital Adequacy Directive. Chapter 3 provides firstly the analysis on the both benefits and costs of CAD, followed by the statistic evidences from Swiss commercial banks’ behaviors. Finally, the summary of the main findings of this study and conclusion will be mentioned in the last section. Chapter 2 Capital Adequacy Directive: Historical Review and General Theory 2.1 Historical review The Capital Adequacy Directive was firstly and officially introduced as the core part of the 1998 Accord, referred to as Basel Accord (International Convergence of Capital Measurements and Capital Standards) issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (henceforward Basel Committee) in July 1998 (Hall, 2004). This accord is not formal treaty nor a binding legal rule, however due to the practical effects conveyed with it, the guidelines of this accord have been implemented not only by signatory countries at the beginning but also by over 100 countries world-wide (Lastra, 2004). Nevertheless, the 1988 Accord has been criticized for its crude assessment of risk and for creating opportunities for regulatory arbitrage (Blum and Hellwig, 1996). Therefore, at the end of June 2004, the â€Å"New Capital Accord† (henceforth call Basel II) was finally issued after the endorsement conducted by G10 banks supervisor in order to replace the original accord (now termed â€Å"Basel I† agreed in 1988) and solve the problems occurred as the result of Basel I implementation in banking system. 2.2 General Theory of Capital Adequacy Directive The genesis of Capital Adequacy Directive as well as the capital regulation could be traced back to the concern that bank might hold less capital than is socially optimal â€Å"relative to its riskiness as negative externalities resulting from bank default are not reflected in market capital requirements† (Rime, 2001). In the 1988 Accord, the Basel Committee provided a ratio of capital to risk-weighted assets. In this Basel formula, Capital is divided into Tier 1 (equity capital plus disclosed reserves minus goodwill) and Tier 2 (revaluation reserves, undisclosed reserve, general loan loss reserves, and subordinated term debt). Specifically, Tier 1 capital must to constitute at least 50% of the total capital base. In addition, the denominator of this Basel formula is the sum of risk-adjusted assets plus off-balance sheet items adjusted to risk. (Lastra, 2004) According to (BIS, 2008) the 1998 Accord in essence prescribed that banks hold capital of at least 8 % of their risk-weighted assets. Although there is no strong argument for the â€Å"target† ratio 8%, it still was considered to be â€Å"sufficient† due to the empirical application from previous policy applied in some states such as the US/UK bilateral agreement of 1986 regarding capital adequacy (Rime, 2005). Eight percent were the median in exiting good practice at that time: the US as well as the UK around 7.5 %, Switzerland 10%, France and Japan 3 % (Lastra, 2004). In fact, data from a wide range of banks from the Fitch IBCA database and national supervisors as well as the Basle Committee denote increasing trend with the average capital ratio rising from 9.3% in 1988 to 11.2% in 1996. â€Å"Most countries experienced increases in their capital ratios although those countries, which were close to, or below, the Basle minimum capital adequacy ratio of 8% in 1988 evidenced a much higher overall increase than those, which had historically high capital ratios†. (Jackson, 1999) Recently, in the new approach, often referred to as Basel II, specifically in the First Pillar ─ Minimum Capital Requirements, the overall level of regulatory capital currently held by banks is not set to rise or to be lower. The capital ratio is calculated using the definition of regulatory capital and risk-weighted assets and the total capital ratio must be no lower than 8%. In addition, the tier 2 capital is limited to 100% of Tier 1 capital (BIS, 2004). However, it is set to be more risk sensitive (Blum and Bichsel, 2004). Chapter 3 Costs and Benefits of Capital Adequacy Requirements: The Analysis for Switzerland 3.1 Understanding the Swiss banking system: To date, the Swiss banking system is typically depicted as one of the leading universal banking system around the world since this type â€Å"universal banking† was firstly allowed at the Banking Law of 1930 (Stiroh and Rime, 2003). In reality, like the most continental European countries, Swiss bank legislation does not distinguish between the commercial and investment banks. In principle, Swiss banks are able to offer a wide range of financial services such as: lending and deposit-taking, underwriting, brokerage, trading and portfolio management (Swiss Bankers Association, 2006). Furthermore, the Swiss banks might vary in the way they use their options to engage in all types of financial activities as the â€Å"truly universal banks co-exist with the institution specializing either in traditional banking or financial market activities†. According to Swiss Bankers Association (2006) the Swiss National Bank (SNB) classifies the banks in Switzerland into ten major categories: big banks, cantonal banks, regional and savings banks, Raiffeisenkassen banks, commercial banks, consumer loan banks, stock exchange banks, other banks, foreign, and private bank. These bank categories differ with regard to their size, business focus, geographic scope of activities and legal form. Within the banking sector, the big banks maintain a dominant position in every respect. As the matter of fact, the Swiss economy is characterised by a comparatively large banking sector by international standards, and by the dominance of two banks, Credit Suisse and UBS. At the end of 2006, the banking sector’s total assets exceeded CHF 4,500 billion or nearly ten times the size of Swiss GDP. This is by far the biggest ratio among the G10 countries, followed by Belgium and the Netherlands where total bank assets are five times the size of GDP. Measured in absolute terms, the US has the largest banking sector. However, total assets of all banks are less than US GDP (Swiss National Bank, 2007) 3.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Capital Adequacy Directive towards Swiss banks’ behaviour In this paper’s context, instead of taking assessing advantages as well as disadvantages of CAD for all the participants of financial market, I would like to take the point of view to this issue from the one particular party of market – the banks. Merits Almost all financial experts hold the opinion that though capital generally accounts for a small percentage of the financial resources of banking institution; it plays a crucial and important role in their long-term financing and solvency position, which directly influence to their public credibility and reputation. The inverse relationship between the capital adequacy requirement and bank risk taking has been found in the research of Avery and Berger in 1991. In order to meet the 8% target ratio of Basel formula, banks have not been encouraged and limited to take the high risky activities, which always promises the high payoffs, thereby reducing the likelihood of failures. In addition, it is undeniable that the implementation of Capital Adequacy Directive leads to the more powerful ability of banks at the event of financial crisis as the more reasonable the capital ratio is set up, the higher the probability that a bank will not fail to pay back its debts. This fact tends to justify the existence of capital adequacy regulation in order to avoid bankruptcies and negative externalities on the financial system. In other words, it could be said that Capital Adequacy Directive is needed to maintain and enhance the financial stability of banks, generally, for economics. In the case of Swiss banking system, Switzerland welcomes that the Capital Adequacy Directive has been adopted as an important means to preserve the financial soundness of the Bank and its triple A rating. According to Swiss Banker Association (2008) the Swiss banks are well capitalized by international standards and as an additional safety measure, Swiss law demands capital adequacy standards even higher than those required by the Basel Accord. Swiss banks can therefore certainly be counted amongst the safest in the world. The following table will display the marked-rise in risk-weighted in all bank categories in Switzerland at the year-end of 2006 As been shown from the graph, in 2006, the risk-weighted capital ratios rose in all bank types as it increased from the 13.1 % to 13.9 % in terms of the entire banking sector (exceeded the G-10 countries’ average by more than 2.5% point at the same time). This increase was particularly pronounced at the big banks (from 11.5% in 2005 to 12.4% in 2006). Specifically, let take UBS – one of two largest banks in Switzerland as a typical example for the benefits of Capital Adequacy Directive in order to maintain the financial stability. The capital that UBS is required to hold based on Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) regulations, which differ in some certain respects from the calculation under the Basel Capital Accord (BIS guidelines). As a result of the differences in regulatory rules, UBS’s risk-weighted assets are higher, and its ratios of total capital and Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets, are lower, when calculated under the SFBC regulations than under BIS guidelines. However, UBS has always had total capital and Tier 1 capital well in excess of the minimum requirements of both the BIS and the SFBC. Capital adequacy The success of USB in doing business as well as maintaining financial stability has been measured and confirmed by the largest and most famous credit rating agency such as Fitch Ratings, Standard Poor’s and Moody’s. In February 2006, the rating agency Standard Poor’s affirmed UBS’s AA+ long-term and A-1 + short-term ratings and commented: â€Å"The key strengths of USB business profile are the strong cash flow, high returns, and the sound capital base.† In which, the last one has been brought by the presence of successful implementation of Capital Adequacy Directive. Not surprisingly, to date, the capital base of the Swiss banking sector appears to be sound as all banks reported excess capital at the end of 2006 ( Swiss National Bank, 2007) To sum up, the Capital Adequacy Directive framework is truly needed for Swiss banks in order to avoid bankruptcies and negative externalities on the financial system, enhancing and maintaining the financial stability. Disadvantages Despite what has been shown, nothing could be further from the truth that capital adequacy might affect the banking system’s ability to extend credit. Under the circumstance that the regulatory are set too high, that might leads to the risk-adjusted market return on bank loans will be insufficient so as to cover this artificially high cost of capital, therefore decreasing bank-lending activities. This so-called credit-crunch, which will directly impact not only to the financial stability of banking system but also the aggregate level of economics activities (Allen, 2004). Furthermore, there are various concern have been raised over whether the presence of capital requirement directive undermine the long-run competitiveness of banks. Jackson at the year-end 1999, and Blanco and Barrios in their research at 2003 have shown that these concerns could be separated into two types: (i) Whether banks have been disadvantaged compared with securities markets or securities firms (ii) Whether the overall profitability of banks has been affected and their competitiveness has been harmed According to Jackson (1999), there is a controversial issue that whether banks, due to the capital adequacy regulation have found it difficult to compete against the securities markets as provider of funds. Many countries have witnessed â€Å"a shift from provision of funding to prime corporates by banks to provision of funding by commercial paper markets or securities markets more generally† but it is difficult to assess how much of this shift was driven by the capital requirements of the banks and how much by innovation and greater sophistication of the borrowers. Furthermore, there is no strong theory as well as empirical evidence to conclude from the profound changes in banks’ long-term share of various markets that they have been driven by the influences of capital requirements on banks’ competitiveness. In the case of Swiss banking system, by using the empirical methods and model to evaluate the relationship between the capital adequacy regulation and the share prices of banks as well as using the data come from 4 big banks, 25 cantonal banks and 125 regional banks in existence from 1989 to 1995 which represents 82% of Swiss banking system, Rime (2001) has shown that there is no evidence about capital adequacy requirement implementation reduce the Swiss banks’ share price. Moreover, Wagster revealed the same result at 1996 when he did the research in the situation of Switzerland, Germany, and Netherlands. It is possible that the introduction of minimum regulatory capital requirements may have harmed the competitiveness of the banking industry. If capital standards require a bank to maintain an equity position in excess of what it would hold voluntarily, or in response to market pressure, then these standards constitute an external constraint on a bank’s operations. In theory, any kind of external interference with the activities of a business firm could harm its short-run profitability or growth and possibly undercut its long-run viability (Jackson, 1999). However, it does seem that the exactly answer for this question whether implementation of capital adequacy regulation harms the competitiveness of banks has not been found yet because the long-term competitiveness of banking is driven by a wide range of factors. As been shown in the above part, the implementation of CAD has been conducted successfully in terms of Swiss banking system. That helps banks to enhance the financial stability not only in their own system but also for entire economy. Hence, the Swiss banking system are now depicted as the universal banking system, being classified amongst the safest and highest profit all over the world. Conclusion In this study, we have just investigated into the costs and benefits of Capital Adequacy Directive towards Swiss banks’ behaviors. Our main message is that Capital Adequacy Directive is truly desirable as it provides an extremely efficient financial mechanism for maintaining the financial stability as well as prestige for Swiss banking system. However, despite the typical merits that have been conveyed by Capital Adequacy Directive, some drawbacks it might create such as unexpected credit crunch phenomenon, is obviously seen. This does require the act of Government and Swiss National bank with more caution as the more efficiency CAD present the more benefits that Government and Swiss banks can achieve. Bibliography Allen (2004), The Basel Capital Accords and International Mortgage Markets: A Survey of the Literature. Avery and Berger (1991), Risk-Based Capital and Deposit Insurance Reform, Journal of Banking and Finance BIS (2008) [www.bis.org] [Internet] [Assessed 15 April 15, 2008] Blum (2003), The Impact of Capital Requirements on Banks’ Incentives to Monitor and to Hold Excess Capital, Journal of banking and finance Blum and Hellwig (1996), The macroeconomic implications of capital adequacy requirements for banks, Journal of banking and finance Blum and Bichsel (2004), The relationship between risk and capital in Swiss commercial banks:a panel study, Journal of banking and finance Blanco and Barrios (2003), The effectiveness of bank capital adequacy regulation: A theoretical and empirical approach, Journal of banking and finance G34 International Banking and Finance materials by Prof D.H.Gowland G33 International Banking: Regulation and Supervision materials by Prof D.H.Gowland Hall (2004), Basel II: A panacea or a missed opportunity? , Journal of banking and finance Jackson (1999), Capital requirements and bank behaviors: The impact of Basel Accord, Journal of banking and finance Lastra (2004), Risk-based capital requirements and their impact upon the banking industry: Basel II and CAD III, Journal of banking and finance Quotation database, [Internet] [Assessed 15 April 2008] Rime (2001), Capital requirements and bank behaviors: Empirical evidence for Switzerland, Journal of banking and finance. Rime (2005), Will Basel II Lead to a Specialization of Unsophisticated Banks on High-Risk Borrowers? , Journal of banking and finance Sheldon (2001), Costs and Benefits of Capital Adequacy Requirements: an Empirical Analysis for Switzerland, Journal of banking and finance Stiroh and Rime (2003), The performance of universal banks: Evidence from Switzerland, Journal of banking and finance Swiss National Bank, (2008), [Internet] [Assessed 15 April 2008] Swiss Federal Banking Commission (2005), Basel II Implementation in Switzerland Summary of the explanatory report of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission Swiss Bankers Association (2008), Swiss Bankers Association press release, [Internet] [Assessed 15 April 2008] Wagster (1996), Impact of the 1988 Basle Accord on International Banks, Journal of Finance,

A Simple Proposal Essay -- essays research papers

A SIMPLE PROPOSAL   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Major League Baseball has probably some of the most exciting players in sports today. Players such as Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter make watching baseball fun. But there are some people in Major League Baseball that I have forgotten who display probably more talent than those 3 combined. The people that I am talking about, are the umpires.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  You might be shocked when I say that but believe me, they are great athletes. Can you imagine working in the same conditions they do? To do this, you would need to be able to stand up to managers kicking dirt at you as well as dealing with players arguing at you for calls you have made that should have no controversy over. Working an entire season does wear d...