Designers handbags for women Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Designers handbags for women - Assignment Example With the passage of time, the designer handbags have grown popularity and women have shifted from just handbags to designer handbags. Both might be considered the same by many but for women, designer handbags are statement of their style, their unique image and their temperament. Designer handbags have gained popularity in different parts of the world including in Asia. Women are now more comfortable with the designer handbags rather than just leather handbags. Designer handbags are the first choice of women when it comes to selecting between handbags and for the very reason Luxurious has aimed to provide the customers with an exclusive range of designer handbags in Asia. These designer handbags offered to the customers are unique and different from others in the market and because of their uniqueness in style they are liked by a large number of women. With the potential of the market and increasing demand of the handbags (Venugopal, 2010), this report analyses the possibility of introducing one of the designer handbags offered by Luxurious in Indian Market. Indian Market is one of the most lucrative and highly potential markets for handbags (Venugopal, 2010) and therefore this report analyses the positives and negatives of the Indian market and how fruitful Luxurious can be if it introduces its hand bags in the Indian Market. With the increasing competition in the designer handbags industry, there are different factors that influence the consumers to buy the handbag. Design although has always remained the most important factor, but the price has also played an important part to encourage the consumers to buy the product. Luxurious handbags in India would be offered with competitive and very reasonable prices and this has been predicted as the main reason why large number of consumers would be attracted to use the products of Luxurious. The competitive price of these Luxurious designer handbags would be helpful in gaining more attention as women are fond of collecting designer handbags but due to the high prices many of them are not able to afford such bags. There are number of factors that would help Luxurious to be successful in India and some of the major factors include; highly populated country, demand of luxury products including handbags, purchasing power of India, and culture of India etc. Luxurio us can enter the market of India and it can open up its outlets in the Indian market and at the same time offer its products online as well. This decision is based on the fact that the purchasing power of customers has greatly increased due to which the demand for quality designer handbags have increased and the trend of online sales have also been increasing. Background India being one of the fastest growing economies of the world has much potential than other markets of the world. The women in this region are more inclined towards designer handbags than any other local handbags available to them. The rising income is another factor due to which the demand for the designer handbags is preferred over simple and local handbags. The main reason to select this region over others is the potential growth and opportunities that could be availed in this market. India is emerging as one of the developing countries in the world. The designer handbags industry in this country is improving eve n though demand internationally has been reduced because of recession. With the rise in the income level in India, more and more women are intending to purchase designer handbags. The market has great potential for designer handbags as fashion industry in this

Why is freedom of expression so fundamental to democracy Assignment

Why is freedom of expression so fundamental to democracy - Assignment Example It should be realized that this resolution was made before any other in the history of the UN. Freedom of expression is very important in creating the right environment for democracy to work and thrive. Considering that democracy involves creating society where public participation is enhanced, freedom of expression is seen to play a major role in creating this important aspect in decision making. Democracy calls for the involvement of all citizens in the affairs of the country. In this case, the citizens cannot really participate in the democratic process if they do not have the right to access information. In the same way, the masses should have the freedom to express their views and opinions freely without any fear of reprimand (GHREN). In most cases freedom of expression is only viewed in relation to human dignity. However, it should be realized that it is also important to enhance such aspects like participation, democracy and accountability in the society. In this case any violations on the freedom of expression have direct impact on the ability of the people to participate and associate in the general democratic process. Across the world, several situations abound where civilizations have struggled to secure the right to express themselves. While this freedom is taken for granted in most developed countries, it is not actually the case in many developing societies across the world. There are still many violations on the freedom of expression realized in many countries. The suppression of the ability of the people to express their views is always seen to be a major impediment to the realization of democracy. Much progress has been made in the process of securing freedom of expression in many societies across the world. However, several challenges still persist and many efforts are being made to implement this fundamental right through series of functional

Induction of Gene Expression Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Induction of Gene Expression - Research Paper Example They are preceded by a single promoter/operator region which controls the expression of all three genes. Even further upstream of the promoter lies the gene lacI which codes for the lac repressor protein. This protein is a regulator and binds to the promoter/operator region of the lac operon in the absence of lactose in the medium. This is simply an economic measure by the bacterium to prevent the wasteful synthesis of enzymes when they are not needed. In the presence of lactose, the repression is relieved as lactose binds to the repressor protein and changes its conformation in a manner that makes it dissociate from the promoter. However, there is an added control level to the regulation of this operon. In the presence of a preferred substrate, like glucose or its modified form, glucose -6- phosphate, the bacterium will still not synthesize lactose even though this is present in the medium along with glucose. This phenomenon is called catabolite repression. The mechanism involves the CAP protein which also can increase expression of the lac operon. When glucose levels are high, cyclic AMP levels lower. Cyclic AMP forms a complex with CAP before it binds to the DNA. So, when the cyclic AMP levels are lowered, the CAP protein bound to DNA also decreases, thus lowering the transcription of lac genes. ... Since the natural substrate lactose and the products of its metabolism are not coloured detection of their formation is difficult. For this purpose, the analog ONPG is used which upon hydrolysis yields a product which is deep yellow in colour and can be spectrophotometrically quantified to follow the reaction and hence the expression patterns of the operon. The aim of the work is to use this analog and others to obtain a better understanding of the workings of the lac operon. MATERIALS AND METHODS Culturing of the bacteria: 10 ml each of E. coli (lac+ strain) which had reached mid-log phase was aliquoted into separate flasks and incubated at 28- 30 C gently shaking to ensure aeration. The cells were allowed to continue growing. Induction: Two sets of induction experiments were performed. The first set was induced with IPTG at a final concentration of 0.5 mM. The second set was also induced with 0.5 mM IPTG but in addition glucose was added to the medium to a final concentration of 30 mM. For the first set 1 ml samples were taken out at intervals of 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 and 48 minutes and used for the assay of galactosidase activity. For set 2, samples were removed at intervals of 10 and 45 minutes after induction with IPTG. As a control, 1 ml of the culture was removed prior to induction from both sets and used as uninduced controls. -galactosidase assays: To determine whether expression of the operon was taking place, the activity of galactosidase was assayed as follows. 0.1 ml of the culture samples removed at each time point were transferred into spectrophotometer tubes appropriately labeled. 1.5 ml of ONPG assay medium was added to each tube. (100 ml of assay medium contains 8 mg ONPG, 0.1 ml mercaptoethanol, 0.001 M MgSO4, pH7). After brief vortexing

Social change Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social change Questions - Essay Example 2. During the â€Å"Battle of Seattle† in 1856, various aspects are shown to have reflected social movement: (1) emergence; (2) coalescence; (3) bureaucratization; and, (4) decline. The emergence of the social movement had resulted from the prevalent disagreement by the Indian natives on the new treatise imposed by the territorial legislature. There was an aspect of bureaucratization when the attackers [Indian Natives] fashioned an attack strategy, through the headship of Owhi and Lushi, which eventually led to a bloody battle. A decline was seen to have taken place as a result of the Indian Natives’ retreat from the war due to many wounded and killed soldiers. 3. While it did not play a major issue during the American Revolution, the conflict imperceptibly acted together with Religion. The ratification of Jefferson’s bill created for the establishment of â€Å"religious freedom† upheld equality in religious preferences, and which had likewise safeguarded freedom of religious worship; it had bestowed religious freedom to all regardless of their spiritual affiliations or if they believe in God or no. This has made the United States a fountain of freedom and equality. Also, the abolition of the primogeniture laws gradually freed Black Americans from aristocrats and the loyalists. It has brought egalitarianism to the nation and provided equal opportunity to all Americans. 4. The prime mission of the Homeland Security is to maintain security, safety and resistance against terroristic attacks. In order to widen service and spread safety and security upheavals throughout the entire nation, the roles are distributed to the different levels of the government: federal, state, local, et al. The identification of roles is determined by the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 that details and executes the functions or responsibilities of each level of the government. committed to protecting its

Relationship and School Community Essay Example for Free

Relationship and School Community Essay Method While keeping in mind Mai’s method for determining subjects, I read the article â€Å"Care, Concern, and Communication† by Susan Pickford. I chose Mai’s conception because Wilson leaves out one major method of indexing that could be named user-oriented method (Mai, 2000). The basic idea of user-oriented method is that the indexer needs to have the user’s information needs and terminology in mind when determining the subject matter of the document as well as when selecting index terms for the document. It suggests that the indexer should have knowledge about the user’s needs to determine the subject matter. Mai argues 5 methods in indexing. First one is a simplistic conception similar to Wilson’s (1968) constantly referred to method. This method determines the subject by counting frequencies of occurrences of words in the document so it could be the most objective method. The problem is that there is not necessarily any correlation between occurrences of words in a document and its content. Second method is a document-oriented conception. The basic idea is that the indexer should establish the subject matter solely based on an analysis of the document itself; the goal is to represent the document as truthfully as possible and ensure the subject representation is valid for a long time. Third method is a content-oriented conception attempts to describe the content of the document as fully as possible. This conception shows historical and cultural circumstances that determine the subject matter of the documents. Fourth one is a user-oriented conception mentioned in above paragraph. Last one is a requirement-oriented conception. In this method, the indexers have knowledge about the users’ individual information needs and work tasks. It is only useful in smaller organizations and indexing done by this method, like a user-oriented conception, changes over time. Subject Description The article is about Jane Roland Martin’s argument for the SchoolHome, an idea of making the school home away from home. In this system, school children would be taught the three C’s: care, concern and communication and thus their education would be inclusive, merging intellectual with the heart. The result: the epidemic of violence would be reduced and the domestic vacuum in children’s lives filled for good. Derived Indexing Children of the ‘90s are a content-oriented concept that describes historical and cultural context in which the document is produced. Without using Children of the ‘90s in the subjects of the document one would lose context for the article, so it is important to include the article for understanding. It is possible to find documents like children’ education influenced by social conditions or changes of ‘90s. Domestic Vacuum in Children’s Lives is a user-oriented concept that is the foundation of the article and would be accessible from this common phrase or variations thereof (e. g. , â€Å"domestic vacuum†, â€Å"live* vacuum†, and â€Å"child* live*† using wildcards for the greatest number of matches for the concept). Schoolhome is essentially a simplistic and document-oriented concept that serves an identifier for the article in the most general way while it does not describe the content of the article. This term would be especially useful in finding such things as case studies or curriculum examples for Schoolhome. Rethinking Schools for Changing Families is an excellent term that touches slightly on all of Mai’s conceptions. While it is the book title of Jane Ronald Martin, in its various wildcard combinations is a simple general term, reflects the article’s content, and speaks to the more specialized non-expert and expert subject areas that are brought up with School, Changing, and Families. Transforming American Education is a document-oriented term that helps to focus the search to the overarching concepts that are touched on in Children of the ‘90s, Domestic Vacuum in Children’ Lives, Schoolhome, and Rethinking Schools for Changing Families. The document types that American Education points to vary from the basic to the expert, making it a very good lynch pin-term. Free Indexing Although the derived terms above do a good job in reflecting the ideas in the article, some additional terms may include: Social Context for Children Education, which brings in Education and children, but Social Context is a broader, less expert phrase than containing ‘90s and domestic vacuum terms. Philosophy of Children Education, which gives as sense of the article, but the word Philosophy may not be an obvious children education search term. School and Home in United States, which is akin to schoolhome. Schoolhome would also be a good derived term, but this is slightly more nominative than descriptive. Moreover, using United States as an example gives geographical criteria to indexing term. Family School Relationship expands on Children Education with relationship between Family and School. It also broadens the scope by detailing what the school reform would be about. School Reform is a good term that points the search in the direction of planning and results for Transforming American Education. These 5 free- indexed terms would all be in Mai’s user and requirement areas, since some of the terms might be meaningful to those experts enough to think of using jargon as search terms. Assigned Indexing (ERIC) Educational Change: I found that â€Å"education† was a better term over â€Å"school† for â€Å"reform†, but feel that my subject terms School Reform and Rethinking Schools for Changing Families are still appropriate in that they speak to individual schools (as in a study), although in the grand schema of the database it does not help to split hairs. In ERIC, education reform was educational change (as of 1996, although â€Å"reform† is still commonly used in society) and the contents regarded modification of things such as curriculum and teaching methods, which matches the article. Educational Philosophy: It is a good match, in that reflects the article’s context and themes. Social Environment: It means â€Å"social factors or conditions that influence individuals or groups†. It is a broader phrase than Social Context for Children Education. Family School Relationship: It has a placeholder for it but no information (i. e. , no related terms, but I take it to be a viable indexing entry). It is also used for school home relationship. School Community Relationship: It means â€Å"formal or informal interactions between an educational institution and the surrounding community†, which matches the article. I believe â€Å"brand names† like Domestic Vacuum in Children’s Live, Children of the ‘90s, Schoolhome, and Rethinking Schools for Changing Families do not have much use in the thesaurus, but the variations of Social Environment, Educational Philosophy, Family School Relationship, and School Community do an excellent job in representing the subject, derived and free terms above. Although I see where my subject analysis was too narrow in some places I am leaving the term â€Å"as-is† (except for â€Å"education reform† for â€Å"school reform†, which is not much of a trade seeing how it is actually â€Å"change†) to show the evolution of the indexing process in the assignment and in my mind. To revise my analysis would be like looking in the back of the textbook to do my homework. 6. 7. Compare, Contrast and Justification When I compared the derived and free indexing terms I selected with the descriptors in the ERIC thesaurus I was surprised by the number of them that were not in the ERIC thesaurus. In a few cases there was a close term, but for most there was nothing. This furthered my understanding of not only how challenging it is to select subjects for indexing, but how much harder it would be when faced with a controlled vocabulary. For the most part only the very narrow generic subjects were listed in the thesaurus, the more descriptive terms were not. In two cases terms I selected actually has a better term in the thesaurus, such as my choice of School Reform compared to the ERIC thesaurus descriptor Educational Change. The thesaurus does a service to the search process by training the indexer to be as strategic as possible in boiling down the essential terms or concepts of an article. My derived and free terms were no less accurate than the assigned terms, because author Susan B. Pickford was writing with an audience in mind and used the â€Å"brand names† to illustrate her article. ERIC is invaluable in not only framing the terminology commonly used for subjects, but also gives the searcher context, such as what the current term used to be, along with a date of the change. This makes research interesting as an historical concept, and seeing how improvements have been made over the years, it helps to sharpen the indexer’s ear for the best possible match (e. g. , â€Å"education† in lieu of â€Å"school,† â€Å"change† instead of â€Å"reform†). As author Stephen Nachmanovich wrote, â€Å"Creativity exists more in the searching than in the finding. † However, in being creative as an indexer, you help the searcher in finding things where he wouldn’t normally have considered looking.

Summer Vacation Essay Example for Free

Summer Vacation Essay The summer i had was amazing. I did so many different things. I went to camp, went to USA, and went to the beach. I had so much fun. I just hope next summer is as exciting as this one. First of all I went to my camp with tons of my friends. (name of camp) was so much fun! I spent money on ______ and me and my friends did so much different things. The only problem is that i had to wake up early. That was a bummer. Secondly i went to USA. I woke up early, and took a long bus ride. That wasnt that fun. But i went to really nice places. (list a couple places and explain part of it) Last, i went to the beach with my family. I got a great tan! I love just sitting in the sand and soaking up the sun. I relaxed and it was really fun spending it with my family. I went swimming too. Of course its not as fun if i didnt go swimming, the water was so refreshing. In conclusion, my summer was so amazing and im really excited for next summer. The infamous â€Å"What I did on my Summer Vacation Essay†, I’m not sure I was ever assigned that one. Suddenly I see myself in Junior English. I was 16, flat chested, boyfriendless, wanting desperately to have the whole fitting popular feeling behind me. And it almost was, but only almost because there I was sitting in my name brand jeans thought I probably spent all my birthday money on. I am also pretty sure that I woke up at least an hour before school started to get my hair just right. I am still clueless with what to do with makeup but that never stopped me then. I wish I had had enough sense to throw on those old comfy jeans. The ones with the holes in them ( not on purpose), a soft t-shirt and pulled my hair into a ponytail†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦but that wardrobe would have to wait until college. But back to my 16 year old self, English was just a class. Not one I particularly looked forward to either. If anyone had asked my favorite subject I never would have said English. I dreaded the essays and sentence diagramming. I did look forward to the reading lists, although , I tried not to appear too eager. I complained as much as the rest as the class, but at home I read them. Cover to cover. Usually well before the deadline. I hated homework of read chapters one and two. I read books, like I later learned to drink beer. Fast until I finished. I couldn’t stop at the end of chapter two. I needed to know what happened like I needed another drink. And I liked the excuse to read, at this stage I of felt like I needed one. Reading was kind of cool for a while. Me and Ramona Quimby were the best of friends in elementary school. I also went through a slightly embarrassing Babysitters Club phase, but am pleased to report that the Sweet Vally High Twins and I never clicked. Sometime in junior high those books seemed babyish, and replaced with talking on the phone, listening to music ( really bad music I might add) and learning how to French kiss. So when we got our reading lists every year I dug in. So, back to the first week of English III. You already have most of the background, but what you don’t know is that I was more than a bit guarded. I didn’t like letting people in. Really in. Being vulnerable wasn’t exactly safe in my family and well not that safe for anyone in high school period. That being said I would have killed for our first writing assignment to be â€Å"what I did on my summer vacation†. Surely I would have written something amusing or satirical. I doubt I would have truly written about our beach vacation where more than likely my parents screamed at each other, I got 3rd degree burns and most of my family got drunk and passed out. Possibly even me. I can’t remember that summer in particular but they were all pretty much the same. Not to say there weren’t any warm memories from those summer beach retreats. Surprisingly there are many, but at 16 you kind of gravitate towards the bad stuff. The melancholy teenager hanging on to anything to give her a thick wall to build around herself. Yes, I would have written something light and clever and given it a really zingy title. I was well known for my zingy titles. Instead Mrs. Lampo asked us to write not one silly essay but a collection of private personal ones. I believe it was called a â€Å"me book†. I cringed as she described the assignment. Now, as a teacher I can see what she was trying to do. She wanted to get to know us. Who we were, what we liked, how we wrote, how to reach us. The problem was, I was 16 and she was one of them. A grown up. A teacher. A mom of a kid in our class. She was not to be trusted. How could I write all these essays on who I was, my strongest influences, the things I was most proud of etc.. Maybe later in the year. Maybe by April or something when we had a chance to feel each other out. Not now. Not the first week. I can picture her clearly. She was about my mom’s age. Short, with short dark hair. She was always very smartly dressed, much more stylish than my mom and with her toes perfectly pedicured. She always seemed a bit shifty to me. She had this large mole on her face that I couldn’t help but stare at as she lectured. It was about the size of a dime and I swear it got bigger as the year went on. It has made me really self councious about my own mole. I keep thinking about having it removed all because of the time I spent making fun of hers in the 11th grade. She was probably a pretty good teacher, although she made me uneasy. Usually good teachers fall into one of two categories: cold, hard and feared, but eventually that fear turns into respect and the cold starts to warm. This would be Mrs. Holmes my 6th grades science teacher and first F I ever received on a test. Next would be the warm and encouraging type. You learned so much simply because you wanted to please them. This would be my 10th grade English teacher, Mrs. Prejean who introduced me to Anne Sexton on the first day ( no damn summer vacation essays from her either). I wouldn’t have memorized that ridiculously long Friends, Romans, Countrymen speech for anyone else. Mrs. Lampo didn’t quite fit into either category. I suppose she was hard, but not especially challenging. I didn’t warm to her, nor did I truly respect her. I did, however, like to argue with her. This was her fault of course. She introduced our poetry unit with this long flowery speech about how no opinion or interpretation of a poem could be wrong. There were no dumb questions or bad observations. Once again, as a fellow educator I can see what she was trying to do. She wanted to create a safe atmosphere for us to speak up and discuss. The only problem with that was she announced to my class that my observation was dead wrong only 15 minutes after her flowery speach. I didn’t burn with shame, instead I took it as a challenge. Maybe this challenge was just what I needed to motivate me to prove myself to her academically or maybe all it motivated me to do was toilet paper her house and leave an egg in her mailbox with a threatening note about Thoreau. Back to my first week assignment†¦These personal essays had a cold fearful grip on me. Usually my writing process involved mulling the topic over for a bit and then pouring it all out on paper the day or so ( or occasionally the period) before it was due. I didn’t proofread or spellcheck. I finished them in a flurry and handed them in. I think I was afraid if I gave them a proper reading I would be too embarrassed to even have them graded. My spelling was not something to be envied. I never quite got a great grasp on grammar either. To this day I couldn’t tell you what a gerrand is. I somehow managed to get As, although my papers were usually heavily marked with red.. These essays were different. I was supposed to reveal something about myself. To her. To someone who could be my mother†¦and that would be the last person I wanted to be unguarded around. Sometimes I still feel that way. I briefly just considered making it all up. Some fictional crap that would satisfy her little assignment and still get me a good grade. It might even be fun, making things the way I wanted them to be instead of how they were. I also considered doing what I usually ( yes still) do when I am a bit uncomfortable and guarded†¦being funny. Writing decent essays, but not digging in. Keeping them on the surface and full of satire. The struggle was I couldn’t do either. It felt like I would be cheapening it somehow. I didn’t trust this Mrs. Lampo or her mole. It was still too early to tell if she would earn my respect, but I realized the writing already had. That it didn’t just get to scratch the surface or be passed off as a joke. That it was bigger than my fear. So I did it. I wrote about my fears and my hopes and my proudest moments. I put it all on paper and fearfully turned it in. Who it was this 16 year old girl thought she was. I saved one of those essays. I think it is in my high school box up in my parent’s attic. I did get an A. I can’t remember if it was really any good or not. I didn’t sign up to be my high school newspaper editor or go on to pursue a degree in journalism. I didn’t spend all my free time writing short stories instead of watching 90210, but it did teach me that this writing stuff was real. It had to be vulnerable, and it was most certainly to be respected, big hairy mole and all.

The Monetary And Fiscal Policy Of Iceland

The Monetary And Fiscal Policy Of Iceland The country of Iceland is the smallest economy within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with a gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007 of about $11.8billion. The Icelandic economy has been based on marine and energy resources. More recently, Iceland has developed a very strong services sector, which accounts for two-thirds of the economic output. Since the start of the decade i.e. from 2000, Iceland has experienced particularly strong growth in its financial services sector. Trade accounts for a large share of Icelands GDP, with imports accounting for 46% in value and exports accounting for 35% in value of goods and services of GDP. Icelands main export item was fish and other marine products until the year 2006, when Iceland began to capitalize on its abundant thermal energy resources to produce and export aluminum. A combination of economic factors over the early to mid-2000s led to Icelands current economic and banking distress. In particular, access to easy credit, a boom in domestic construction that fueled rapid economic growth and a broad deregulation of Icelands financial sector spurred the banks to expand rapidly abroad and eventually played a role in the eventual financial collapse. Iceland benefited from favorable global financial conditions that reduced the cost of credit and a sweeping liberalization of its domestic financial sector that spurred rapid growth and encouraged Icelands banks to spread quickly throughout Europe. The 2008-2009 Icelandic financial crisis was a major ongoing economic crisis in Iceland that involved the collapse of all three of the countrys major banks (Kaupthing, Landsbanki, Glitnir) following their difficulties in refinancing their short-term debt and a run on deposits in the United Kingdom. Relative to the size of its economy, Icelands banking collapse was the largest suffered by any country in economic history of the world. This was the main reason why Iceland had to suffer so much in the crisis. Commenting on the need for emergency measures, Prime Minister Geir Haarde said on 6 October 2008, There [was] a very real danger that the Icelandic economy, in the worst case, could be sucked with the banks into the whirlpool and the result could have been national bankruptcy. He also stated that the actions taken by the government had ensured that the Icelandic state would not actually go bankrupt. At the end of the second quarter 2008, Icelands external debt was 9.553 trillion Icelandic krà ³nur (à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬50 billion), more than 80% of which was held by the banking sector. This value compares with Icelands 2007 gross domestic product of 1.293 trillion krà ³nur (à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬8.5 billion). The assets of the three banks taken under the control of the FME totaled 14.437 trillion krà ³nur at the end of the second quarter 2008. MONETARY POLICY Monetary policy is the process a the government, central bank, or monetary authority of a country uses to control (i) the supply of money, (ii) availability of money, and (iii) cost of money or rate of interest to attain a set of objectives oriented towards the growth and stability of the economy. Monetary theory therefore provides insight into how to craft optimal monetary policy. Monetary policy is contrasted with fiscal policy, which refers to government borrowing, spending and taxation. During the financial crisis, Icelands monetary policy credibility had been very seriously damaged. Unsatisfactory inflation outcomes had already undermined the credibility of the monetary framework, even before the financial crisis started and, consequently, inflation expectations were poorly anchored. Icelandic economists had said that due to the huge impact of the crisis, rebuilding the credibility was likely to take time, and also maintaining it might be very difficult. However, after the crisis, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had voted to lower the Central Bank interest rates by 0.5 %. By supporting the interest rate cut, it lead to the appreciation of the krona in trade weighted terms. As in the ISLM Model, a decrease in the interest rates leads to an increase in the money supply. Therefore, this has lead to an expansionary monetary policy, as the interest rates were lowered, and also the MPC supported or voted for lower interest rates. MONETARY POLICY GRAPH The above graph shows the shift in the LM towards right, which has lead to an expansion in the LM curve. Since the MPC voted for a lower interest rates , the money supply was increased. Therefore, the LM curve shifts from LM1 to LM2, leading to an expansionary of the monetary policy. FISCAL POLICY In economics, fiscal policy can be defined as the use of government expenditure and revenue collection to influence the economy. Fiscal policy refers to the overall effect of the budget outcome on economic activity. There are three possible stances of fiscal policy: Neutral stance, which implies a balanced budget where, govt. spending = Tax Revenue Expansionary stance, increase in the govt. spending and reduction in tax revenue Contractionary stance, decrease in the govt. spending and increase in tax revenue During the financial crisis, there was an increased government debt. Due to the recession and rising debt servicing costs, the public deficit was projected to be above 10% of GDP in 2009, adding to the public debt burden. As a result, a considerable fiscal consolidation was therefore needed to put public finances back on a sustainable path and to pave the road for a successful euro-area entry. It was also important to reduce the deficit vigorously in the coming years, so that the country can reach the goal of balance. In order to eliminate the deficit, the government of Iceland had the option of tax increases as well as spending cuts, it then decided to opt for the former as they were easier to introduce immediately. The starting point for the tax increases would have been to reverse tax cuts implemented over the boom years, but Iceland could no longer afford. This would involve the increase in the personal income tax and also lift the reduced rate of VAT (Value Added Tax). This planned fiscal consolidation, would involve measures which would help to contain the expenditures. FISCAL POLICY GRAPH The above graph, shows the shift in the IS curve towards left, which leads to the contraction of the IS curve. Since the govt. decided to reduce their expenditure and increase the taxation, in order to consolidate the fiscal policy, the IS has moved towards left, leading to an contractionary fiscal policy. INFLATION In economics, inflation can be defined as the rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the price level rises, then each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, annual inflation is also erosion in the purchasing power of money a loss of real value in the internal medium of exchange and unit of account in the economy. The effects of inflation on an economy are manifold and can have both simultaneously positive and negative impacts. Since Iceland, comes from a small domestic market, the banks in Iceland have financed their expansion from getting loans on the inter-bank lending market and, more recently, by getting deposits from outside Iceland (which are also a form of external debt). Large amount of debt was also taken by the households, which was equivalent to 213% of the disposable income, causing inflation in the country. Due to the practice of the Central Bank of Iceland issuing loans (liquidity)to the different banks on the basis of uncovered bonds which are newly issued and printing money on demand, this lead to inflation being exacerbated. Due to the financial crisis, the country of Iceland suffered inflation. On 25th of March 2008, popular website, Bloomberg.com that Iceland had raised its rates to 15% by raising its repo rate by a huge 1.25% in one day. The website also reported that the country was facing an inflation rate of about 7%. However, the Central Bank of Iceland had a goal of maintaining the inflation rate of about 2.5%. Also the Icelandic currency, krona has declined against the euro, from about 100 ISK per euro at the beginning of the year (2008), to its nadir of 125 on March 19 2008. Due to the interest rate hike it had the effect of moving it to about 116 from about 122. In August 2006, the country of Iceland made news when it had increased its interest rate to 13.5%. At that time, the krona was very strong against the euro. Iceland made news previously in August, 2006 when it increased its interest rate to 13.5%. The krona was then trading at a stronger at 90 to one euro. Some main factors why Iceland incurred inflation was mainly due to, the value of krona depreciated, secondly the prices of various commodities kept on soaring, and lastly, there was uncertain effect on wage agreements on labour costs. Since the financial crisis brought a huge change in the development of the economies in the world, as well as making many banks go bankrupt, the Icelandic debt is now over 320 billion krona, which is roughly about $4 billion US dollars. This figure is huge; as one can say considering that its about a quarter of their GDP. INFLATION GRAPH Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2010 6.60 7.30 8.50 2009 18.60 17.58 15.19 11.89 11.63 12.18 11.32 10.90 10.81 9.71 8.63 7.50 2008 5.77 6.79 8.72 11.76 12.32 12.74 13.55 14.54 14.02 15.89 17.15 18.13 2007 6.89 7.41 5.87 5.29 4.67 4.01 3.76 3.45 4.18 4.47 5.19 5.86 The above graph shows Icelandic inflation rate over the past 3 years. In the graph, one can make out how the inflation rate climbed up consistently in the year 2008, whereas in the year 2009, the inflation rates kept on falling except in the month of June where it increased, but since then it had kept on decreasing. In the year 2008, the reason why inflation rate climbed up consistently, was because of the krona which had been depreciating, where as in the year 2009, the inflation rates kept on falling as the property prices fell, which resulted in the fall of prices. UNEMPLOYMENT Unemployment can be defined as people who do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the past four weeks, and are currently available for work. Also, people who were temporarily laid off and are waiting to be called back to that job are counted as unemployed. Some types of unemployment are listed below: Structural Unemployment. Frictional Unemployment. Cyclical Unemployment. Since the financial crisis, lead to large percentage of unemployment all over the world, Iceland was also one of them which had a quite high rate of unemployment. Unemployment in Iceland increased tree times more by the end of November 2008. There were more than 7000 registered jobseekers (about 4% of the workforce) in November compared to just 2136 at the end of August 2008. The debt repayment had become more costly as household debt (80%) and 13% denominated in foreign currencies had become indexed. The impact of the crisis was such that since October 2008, 14% of the total workforce had experienced reductions in pay, whereas around 7% of the workforce had their working hours reduced. According to IFL (Icelandic Federation of Labour) president Gylfi Arnbjà ¶rnsson, the above figures were lower than expected More than 85% of the workforce who were currently registered as unemployed in the country, stated that they had become unemployed or lost their jobs in October after that, due to the economic collapse. In December 2008, the unemployed figures which were registered in Iceland was 4.8 per cent, or around 7,902 people an increase of some 45 percent in November, according to the figures from the Directorate of Labour. These unemployment figures were the highest, Iceland had recorded since January 1997. In the same month i.e. December in the year 2007, unemployment rate partly was 0.8 percent, or 1.357 people. The Directorate of Labour had estimated that the figure will rise to 6.4-6.9 percent by the end of January 2009. Among those unemployed, the rate of unemployment among young people had increased the fastest, with the number of registered 16 to 24 year olds jumping from 1,408 to 2,069 in the month to the end of December 2008. This age group accounts for 23 percent of the entire jobless total. UNEMPLOYMENT GRAPHS GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is defined in economics as a basic measure of a countrys overall economic output. It is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year. It is often positively correlated with the standard of living, though its use as a stand-in for measuring the standard of living has come under increasing criticism and many countries are actively exploring alternative measures to GDP for that purpose. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) can be determined in three ways, all of which should in principle give the same result. They are the product (or output) approach, the income approach, and the expenditure approach. Prior to the 2008-2010 crises, the economy of Iceland had achieved high growth, also had a low rate of unemployment, and a remarkably even distribution of income all over the country. The economy depended heavily on the fishing industry which is the main source of their income, which provides 70% of export earnings and employs 10% of the work force. Icelands economy had been diversifying into manufacturing and service industries in the last decade, with new developments in software production, biotechnology, and tourism. During the global financial crisis, the crisis-stricken Icelandic economys GDP shrank by a record 6.5% in 2009, despite having a decent growth of 1% in 2008 and massive growth of 6% in 2007. The decrease in the gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.5% was a record in the national accounts of Iceland. There was a sharp decline in GDP in last year (2009) as the domestic expenditure plunged by 20.1%, then the household consumption also fell to 14.6% due to unemployment and government consumption dwindled by 3%. Also, Icelands fixed capital formation dropped by 49.9%. These were the reasons why the gross domestic product (GDP) fell by a huge margin, in the year 2009. After the crisis, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Iceland managed to expand at an annual rate of 3.30 percent in the last quarter i.e. in the year 2009. Iceland Gross Domestic Product is now worth 17 billion dollars or 0.03% of the world economy, according to the World Bank. Icelands Scandinavian-type social-market economy combines a capitalist structure and free-market principles with an extensive welfare system, including generous housing subsidies. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) GRAPH Year Mar Jun Sep Dec Average 2009 -5.10 -0.40 -7.20 3.30 -2.35 2008 2.90 -6.00 1.80 3.20 0.48 2007 2.10 0.80 5.10 -1.00 1.75 The above graph, describes the changes in the gross domestic product (GDP) of Iceland over the past 3 years. During the years 2007 2008, Iceland recorded a growth in the GDP, which helped in boosting the Icelandic economy. However, most of the year in 2009, it recorded a huge decline of 6.5%, except in the last quarter i.e. in the month of December where it a recorded a positive GDP. The main reasons why the GDP declined in the year 2009 was because the household consumption, the government consumption, as well the domestic expenditure rate had fallen massively, resulting in a negative GDP for the most part of the year. CURRENCY In economics, the term currency can refer either to a particular currency, which comprises the physical aspects of a nations money supply. The other part of a nations money supply consists of money deposited in banks (sometimes called deposit money), ownership of which can be transferred by means of cheques or other forms of money transfer such as credit and debit cards Due to the effects of the financial crisis, there was In October 2008, the effects of the 2007/08 global financial crisis brought about a collapse of the Icelandic banking sector. The value of the Icelandic krà ³na plummeted, and on 7 October 2008 the Icelandic Central Bank attempted to peg the it at 131 against the euro.[4] This peg was abandoned the next day.[5] The krà ³na later fell to 340 against the euro before trade in the currency was suspended[6] (by comparison, the rate at the start of 2008 was about 90 krà ³nur to the euro[7]). After a period of tentative, very low-volume international trading in the krà ³na, activity had been expected to pick up again throughout November 2008, albeit still with low liquidity, as Iceland secured an IMF loan.[8] However as of January 2009 the krona was still not being traded regularly, with the ECB reference rate being set only intermittently, the last time on December 3, 2008 at 290 ISK per euro.[9] The Icelandic krona similarly fell in value against the US dollar, from ca. 50 to 80 per dollar to about 110-115 per dollar; by mid-November 2008 it had continued its slide to ca. 135 to the dollar. As of April 2, 2009, the value hovered around 119 per US dollar.[10] Previously high costs for foreign tourists thereby dropped, which Icelands tourism industry hopes to exploit.[11] INTERNATIONAL TRADE The economy of Iceland is small and subject to high volatility. Iceland has a mixed economy with high levels of free trade and government intervention. Iceland has a free market economy with relatively low taxes compared with other OECD countries. However, government consumption is less than in other Nordic countries. Icelands trade policy is pursued along three main tracks: multilateral trade liberalisation through the WTO, regional liberalisation through the European Economic Area (EEA) with its EFTA/EEA partners and the European Union and finally, bilateral free trade agreements in cooperation with its EFTA partners Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Icelands international treaties have strengthened foreign trade. The EEA Agreement covers the free movement of goods, persons, capital and services. Membership in the EEA in 1994 and the Uruguay Round agreement brought greater market access for Icelands exports, capital, labor, and goods and services, especially seafood products. Agriculture is heavily subsidized and protected by the government, with some tariffs ranging as high as 700 percent. Iceland is a part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO was established on the 1st of January 1995. It is an organization designed to supervise and liberalize international trade. Since the early 1990s, Iceland and its other partners in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland have established an extensive network of contractual free trade relations in Central and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean region and with countries in other parts of the world. The WTO deals with controlling of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating trade agreements. The country has signed a large number of multilateral and bilateral agreements. Iceland is furthermore strongly committed to the Doha Development Agenda and a fair and equitable outcome that will benefit the entire membership. Iceland support s the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund, which is intended to assist developing countries in taking advantage of the opportunities created by increased trade liberalization. Iceland exports 40% of fish and fish products, 40% of aluminum and alloys and animal products. The main imports are machinery and equipment, petroleum products, foodstuffs and textiles and Cement. Icelands primary import partner is Germany, with 12.6%, followed by the United States, Norway, and Denmark. Currently, the largest trading partner countries are Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries. The fishing industry is one of the most important industries. It provides 70% of export income and employs 6.0% of the workforce; therefore, the state of the economy remains sensitive to world prices for fish products.  [i]  The diversity of Icelands exports has, however, increased significantly in recent years, due to structural reforms and privatisation of state owned entities in finance a nd other sectors. Exports of manufactured products have been growing rapidly. Services now account for 36% of total export revenues while in 1990 the share was 26%. Icelands ratio of services to total trade is one of the highest among OECD countries. It is the Governments stated objective to provide Icelandic agriculture with a realistic opportunity to adapt to changes in its operating environment, to the benefit of farmers and consumers alike. The growth of international trade had been affected in the 1930s by the existence of tariffs and other barriers to international trade. To avoid such problems an agreement, the general Agreement of Trade and Tariffs, was concluded between 44 countries which included Iceland. Iceland joined GATT in 1968. GATT stated that an international agreement should be created which required a binding code of conduct for international trade; its main objective was the liberalization of world trade. Its principle was that there would be mutual benefits if international trade took place on the basis of non-discrimination and should be gradually reduced through negotiations. The liberalization for international trade gave Iceland confidence in their trade. During the period 2003-07, Iceland developed from a nation best known for its fishing industry into a country providing sophisticated financial services, but was consequently hit particularly hard by the 2008 global financial crisis, which extended into 2009.  [ii]   Self-protection and self-preservation have characterized Icelands foreign trade policy since its independence from Denmark. While Iceland is a highly developed country, until the 20th century, it was among the poorest countries in Western Europe. However, strong economic growth has led Iceland to be ranked first in the United Nations Human Development Index report for 2007/2008.  [iii]   TARIFF Iceland enjoys some of the strongest economic freedoms among all countries However; Iceland is very isolationist as regards to the import of farm products and licenses as well as state monopolies of imports (undergoing a dismantling). Some plant products such as potatoes and flowers are subject to seasonal limitations. Iceland implements high tariffs on agricultural products in order to protect the domestic agricultural sector. Tariffs on certain varieties of vegetables, e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers are significantly higher during the growing season to protect domestic greenhouse producers. Meat and dairy products, and potatoes are also protected by substantial duties. Animal feed can carry tariffs up to 55%. Over 90% of imports are not subject to import restrictions or duties other than the same value-added tax applied to domestically produced goods. Special excise taxes are levied on sugar and some sugar products, potatoes, and motor vehicles. Agricultural products remain the most heavily taxed. In March 1970, Iceland acquired full membership in EFTA. On 28 February 1973, Iceland ratified a trade agreement with the European Community (later named the European Union) leading to the elimination of tariffs on industrial goods. A law authorizing the establishment of free trade zones went into effect in 1992. Icelands trade regime underwent considerable liberalization in the 1990s with accession to the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1993, and the Uruguay Round in 1994. Current duty rates generally range from 0% to 30% ad valorem and the average weighted tariff is 3.6%. Some goods enter duty-free, such as meat, fish, and dairy products. Icelands average MFN applied tariff is 5.9%. A high percentage of tariff lines (70%) benefit from duty free treatment. The average MFN applied tariff rate for agricultural products is 18.3% (WTO definition) compared with 2.5% for other goods.  [iv]   Iceland offers preferential tariffs on imports from 37 WTO Members under several free-trade agreements. Regional liberalization has advanced the most within the framework of the European Economic Area (EEA); nonetheless, the average tariff on products from EEA partners is still 3.2%, reflecting the exclusion of several agricultural products from duty-free treatment. A new Customs Law came into force on 1 January 2006 (Act No. 88/2005). According to the authorities, customs clearance for all importation aspects is computerized; electronic data interchange (EDI) covers 98% of the declarations of import and export firms. Customs clearance using EDI takes a matter of minutes, or a few hours if processed manually.