Book Review on a Non-Fictoion book related to violence Essay

Book Review on a Non-Fictoion book related to violence - Essay Example David Crowe made a serious attempt to collect information on all aspects of Oskar Schindler’s life, be it family, business, or political and what evolved is the description of this controversial character not by subjective emotions but backed by documents. Crowe did prodigious research, reading everything, speaking to everyone, examining each document, actively collecting historical records, and in the end came to gather more information about Oskar than Oskar himself might be aware of. While exploring individual life of Oskar, the historian also gave vivid description of the wider political and economic environment under which he worked. The historian remains in touch with the Spielberg’s masterpiece and Keneally’s touching novel and gave inputs, which were not hitherto presented by them due to their limitations as historian. Crowe aptly performs the role of a historian with his readers on this personality, informing them not only of the story but also of source s of each measured judgment. David Crowe went into depth into each and every aspect of the shaping up of a character of Oskar based on as many official and personal documents which he can gather actively by various sources, hitherto unpublished. It is a book, which in the process of presenting the biography of a personality also gives numerous account of the social, economic, and political environment of the Germany during the period of Holocaust. The book is an attempt to synchronize the life history or rather various emotions through which Oskar underwent to the circumstances surrounding him. This book is a definitive treatise on Oskar Schindler, who despite all his shortcomings, underwent a transformation and became the single largest German rescuer of Jews. David Crowe has studiously and meticulously presented the saga or plight of a man, who started by being targeted only with himself but ended up becoming a messiah for many Jews in true term. It is a must for

Theme Park Technology Essay Example for Free

Theme Park Technology Essay Introduction New technologies that theme parks utilize or may consider using in the future can help manage crowds, improve child safety, and create thrilling attractions. Theme parks must decide which technologies it should adapt in order to attract the most consumers and increase consumer spending. Innovative technologies improve consumer safety and enhance customer satisfaction. Technologies used in theme parks today include smart phone applications, fast passes or flash passes, RFID tracking systems, 4D attractions, and LED powered wheels. If a theme park considers adapting any of these technologies, it must decide if the technology meets customer needs and if the benefits outweigh the costs. Crowd Control: Theme parks implement measures to control crowds so that certain areas of the parks are not overcrowded while other areas of the park do not have large crowds. Crowd control measures include the use of surveillance cameras, monitoring ride occupancy rates, issuing fast passes for people to come back to rides later in the day and not have to wait in line, and smart phone applications. Theme park technologies that assist with foot traffic flow also enhance customer satisfaction and safety. Surveillance Cameras Disney takes the lead in theme park crowd control. Disney’s Magic Kingdom has a security epicenter underneath Cinderella’s Castle which is equipped with surveillance cameras, video screens, digital park maps, and computer programs to pinpoint where there are traffic backups or problems with rides. Employees monitor to see where crowds are the largest and deploy parades to divert traffic and lead guests to areas of the park that are less crowded. (Brooks) Surveillance cameras also help employees monitor and track suspicious persons, which helps keep parks safe. If parks did not have surveillance cameras, there would need to be a lot more security personal stationed around the park and monitoring the park on foot. Ride Occupancy Theme parks monitor crowd control by ensuring that all seats on rides are filled. If seats are left empty, it takes longer for visitors to get through the lines. Shorter wait times equal happier visitors, and shorter wait times provide visitors with the opportunity to spend more time at restaurants and gift shops which generate more revenue for the parks. FASTPASS ® / Flash Pass FASTPASS ® is a ride scheduling system invented by Disney which allows guests to visit an attraction and receive a ticket to come back to the ride at a later time and not wait in a long line. Attractions that utilize the FASTPASS ® system have the time displayed for when guests can come back without waiting in line. Guests insert their park ticket into the FASTPASS ® machine, and they receive ticket with the time when they can come back to the attraction and not wait in a long line. Disney does not charge guests to use FASTPASS ® machines, but other theme parks do charge for similar services. Many people are willing to spend the extra money in order to avoid long lines at popular attractions. (Disney FASTPASS Service) Theme parks also help manage crowds by displaying estimated wait times for rides. If the wait is too long for a ride, people will go to other rides throughout the park and come back later. Other parks, such as Six Flags Theme Parks , have versions of fast passes that allow visitors to wait in shorter lines, schedule when they will go on rides electronically, and to ride the same ride twice in a row without waiting in line a second time. Six Flags Theme Park visitors can purchase Flash Passes and schedule when they will go on the ride via an electronic scheduling system. Six Flags Flash Passes are more advanced than Disney’s Fast Pass since visitors can schedule when they will go on rides electronically from anywhere in the park instead of having to go to each attraction they want to ride and receiving a time to come back when they turn in a FASTPASS ® ticket. (Flash Pass: Six Flags Magic Mountain) Six Flags allows visitors to purchase Regular, Gold or Platinum Flash Passes which have greater reductions in wait times. The Regular Flash Pass provides guests with a limited number of Flash Passes that allow them to wait in a shorter line. The Gold and Platinum Flash Passes allow visitors to electronically schedule when they will visit an attraction. Visitors are given an electronic device called a Q-Bot, which guests use to check electronically schedule when they will be able to visit the ride without waiting in line. (Q-Bot) The Platinum Fast Pass provides the added benefit of being able to go on the same ride twice in a row without getting off and waiting in line again. Flash Passes bring in additional revenue to parks and prices vary depending on the park. For example, Flash Passes range from $31 $86 per person at Six Flags Over Georgia and $41 to $99 at Six Flags Magic Mountain. (Flash Pass: Six Flags Magic Mountain) and (Flash Pass: Six Flags Over Georgia) Mobile Magic APP Theme Parks are innovative and have technologies that help them learn about customer preferences while making consumers’ experiences at the park more enjoyable. Walt Disney World has a mobile application for Verizon Wireless customers called Mobile Magic. Mobile Magic allows customers to view line wait times, make restaurant reservations, play games while waiting in line, view the weather forecast and events taking place in the park, and find Disney characters for children to get autographs. Disney receives information from Mobile Magic users that allows them to analyze which restaurants and rides are the most popular and can help Disney gain insights as to how to make consumers experiences at its parks more enjoyable. (Mobile Magic Application) Child Safety: RFID Tracking System. Theme parks such as Dollywood, Legoland, and Wannado use RFID bracelets to keep track of guests and to protect lost children. RFID bracelets transmit a signal to computer system which keeps track of each person’s location. If a child wearing a RFID bracelet becomes separated from his parents, then the parents send a text message to guest services stating, â€Å"help. † Parents receive a text message in response with the location of the lost child and directions to get to the child’s location. If a lost child gets too close to park exits, authorities are contacted to ensure the child does not exit the park. (Sturgen) RFID bracelets provide increased safety for children, and they allow groups of people to locate each easily if they are separated. The bracelets also track and store information about what foods people eat, what rides they visit first or most frequently, and what items they purchase. The information helps theme park management tailor the parks to best meet consumer preferences. Some guests may view the RFID bracelets as an invasion of privacy, but others feel that the benefits outweigh the risks. (Sturgen) At Wannado and Dollywood, the RFID technology is taken a step further than at Legoland. Visitors are provided with a bracelet containing a RFID tag. Then, groups of visitors register their names in the SafeTzone Real-Time Locating System which links each group’s bracelets together electronically. Visitors can then track the location of people in their group by scanning their bracelet at SafeTzone kiosks. (Sullivan) According to the New York Times article, â€Å"Disney Tackles Major Theme Park Problems: Lines,† Disney may start to use bracelets and take the technology one step further. Bracelets would store consumer credit card information so park guests can purchase items with the swipe of the bracelet. Also, the bracelets would store information such as the customer’s name, when they last visited the restaurant, how frequently they visit the restaurant, and the customer’s preferences. This technology would lead theme parks to be the best in class in customer satisfaction. However, it may not appeal to some people who may view it as an invasion of privacy and like there is someone watching over them at all times. Ride Technology: â€Å"4D† Attractions Theme parks have implemented a new level of technology to make attractions seem like they are in 4D. For example, Dollywood has a Polar Express ride during the winter that combines a 3D movie with seats that move like you are actually riding the Polar Express train, different smells and temperatures and other effects to make 3D movie scenes seem more realistic. (â€Å"Dollywood’s Polar Express Creates 4D Viewer Experience†) Islands of Adventure also employs â€Å"4D† technology with its Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. Visitors watch a 3D movie screen while riding on magic benches that drop, lean back, spin, twist, and turn to make it feel as if visitors are flying through the world of Harry Potter. (â€Å"The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universals Islands of Adventure†) Kuka Robot Group developed the magic benches which are also known as Robocoasters. (â€Å"Kuka Arm†) Theme Park Technology Summary: Theme parks utilize leading edge technologies to improve customer safety, better understand customer preferences, and make customers’ experiences at the park more enjoyable. RFID bracelets improve customer safety and provide parks with information about customer preferences. Investment in RFID technology would pay for itself, because many parents would be willing to pay extra to rent bracelets in order to keep traffic of their children and people in their group. Traffic flow and ride wait times are improved through video surveillance, ensuring each ride is at maximum occupancy, fast passes, wait times posted by each ride, and wait times and park information transmitted to people’s smart phones via applications like Disney’s Mobile Magic. Disney was able to create a smart phone application in conjunction with Verizon wireless by charging customers to purchase the application. Customers are happier when there are shorter wait times and the park is not as crowded. Theme parks improve customer satisfaction through the use of â€Å"4D† technology on rides. Theme parks work to improve business by utilizing and developing new technologies. Theme park technology constantly evolves. In addition to the technologies mentioned above, Maurer Rides is in the testing stages of LED-powered wheels for roller coasters. The wheels are powered by light emitting diodes (LEDs) and â€Å"rotation of the wheels creates a ‘generator principle’ with the rotating movement being converted into energy, and thus light. The key benefit is that, apart from saving power, no batteries or excessive wiring is needed. † (Theme Park Post Amusement Theme Parks Industry Business News) The LED wheel lights will show up during the day and night and create an interesting visual effect. Maurer plans to install the first ‘firewheels’, which can travel up to 80 mph, at a theme park in Germany. If this technology works, it may be adapted by other theme parks since it creates visual appeal and uses less energy. (Theme Park Post Amusement Theme Parks Industry Business News) The most important technologies for theme parks improve customer satisfaction and the likelihood that guests will return to the parks again or recommend the parks to other people. 4D Technology, RFID tracking bracelets, Flash Passes, and smart phone applications are leading edge technologies for theme parks that accomplish the task of improving customer satisfaction. Technology is constantly evolving, and theme parks are destined to invent more advanced technologies that improve business operations and customers’ experiences. Works Cited Barnes, Brooks. Disney Tackles Major Theme Park Problem: Lines. The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 28 Dec. 2010. Web. 22 May 2011. . Disney FASTPASS Service. Walt Disney World Resort. Disney. Web. 30 May 2011. . Dollywoods Polar Express Creates 4D Viewer Experience Amusement Parks. Amusement Park Industry-Theme Park Business Directory Amusement Park. Blooloop, 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 31 May 2011. . Flash Pass: Six Flags Magic Mountain. Six Flags. Web. 30 May 2011. . Flash Pass: Six Flags Over Georgia. Six Flags. Web. 30 May 2011. . Kuka Arm. Harry Potter Wizarding World Theme Park in Orlando, Florida. Web. 31 May 2011. . Mobile Magic Application | Verizon Wireless | Disney Parks. Mobile Magic | Disney Parks. Web. 22 May 2011. . Q-Bot. Web log post. Theme Park Review. 17 Mar. 2010. Web. 30 May 2011. . Satchell, Arlene. Wannado City Moves up Closing to Jan. 2 Sun Sentinel. Featured Articles From The Sun Sentinel. The Sun Sentinel, 21 Dec. 2010. Web. 22 May 2011. . Sturgeon, Will. RFID Chips on Kids Makes Legoland Safer | Protecting Your ID | Silicon. com. Silicon. com | Technology Strategy for CIOs and Business Executives. Silicon. com, 24 June 2004. Web. 24 May 2011. . Sullivan, Laurie. How RFID Will Help Mommy Find Johnny InformationWeek. InformationWeek | Business Technology News, Reviews and Blogs. Information Week, 15 Sept. 2004. Web. 22 May 2011. . Theme Park Post Amusement Theme Parks Industry Business News. Web. 22 May 2011. .

Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH)

Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) INTRODUCTION: Much of modern investment theory and practice is predicated on the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), the assumption that markets fully and instantaneously integrate all available information into market prices. Underlying this comprehensive idea is the assumption that the market participants are perfectly rational, and always act in self-interest, making optimal decisions. These assumptions have been challenged. It is difficult to tip over the Neo classical convention that has yielded such insights as portfolio optimization, the â€Å"Capital Asset Pricing Model†, the â€Å"Arbitrage Pricing Theory†, the â€Å"Cox Ingersoll-Ross theory† of the term structure of interest rates, and the â€Å"Black-S[choles/Merton option pricing model†, all of which are predicated on the EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis) in one way or another. At few points the EMH criticizes the existing literature of behavioral finance, which shows the difference of opinion on psychology economics. The field of psychology has its roots in empirical observation, controlled experimentation, and clinical applications. According to psychology, behavior is the main entity of study, and only after controlled experimental dimensions do psychologists attempt to make inferences about the origins of such behavior. On the contrary, economists typically derive behavior axiomatically from simple principles such as expected utility maximization, making it easier for us to predict economic behavior that are routinely refuted empirically The biggest threats to Modern Portfolio theory is the theory of Behavioral Finance. It is an analysis of why investors make irrational decisions with respect to their money, normal distribution of expected returns generally appears to be invalid and also that the investors support upside risks rather than downside risks. The theory of Behavioral finance is opposite to the traditional theory of Finance which deals with human emotions, sentiments, conditions, biases on collective as well as individual basis. Behavior finance theory is helpful in explaining the past practices of investors and also to determine the future of investors. Behavioral finance is a concept of finance which deals with finances incorporating findings from psychology sociology. It is reviewed that behavioral finance is generally based on individual behavior or on the implication for financial market outcomes. There are many models explaining behavioral finance that explains investors behavior or market irregularities where the rational models fail to provide adequate information. We do not expect such a research to provide a method to make lots of money from the inefficient financial market very fast. Behavioral finance has basically emerged from the theories of psychology, sociology and anthropology the implications of these theories appear to be significant for the efficient market hypothesis, that is based on the positive notion that people behave rationally, maximize their utility and are able to prices observation, a number of anomalies (irregularities) have appeared, which in turn suggest that in the efficient market the principle of rational behavior is not always correct. So, the idea of analyzing other model of human behavior has came up. Further (Gervais, 2001) explained the concept where he says that People like to relate to the stock market as a person having different moods, it can be bad-tempered or high-spirited, it can overreact one day and make amends the next. As we know that human behavior is unpredictable and it behaves differently in different situations. Lately many researchers have suggested the idea that psychological analysis of investors may be very helpful in understanding the financial markets better. To do so it is important to understand the behavioral finance presenting the concept that Investors are not as rational as traditional theory has assumed, and biases in their decision-making can have a cumulative effect on asset prices. To many researchers behavioral finance is a revolution, transforming how people see the markets and what influences prices. The paradigm is shifting. People are continuing to walk across the border from the traditional to the behavioral camp†. (Gervais, 2001, P.2) . On the contrary some people believe that may be its too early call it a revolution. Eugene Fama( Gervais, 2001) argued that Behavioral finance has not really shown impacts on the world prices, and the models contradict each other on different point of times. He gave little credit to behaviorist explanations of trends and anomalies(any occurrence or object that is strange, unusual, or unique) arguing that data-mining techniques make it possible to locate patterns. Other researchers have also criticized the idea that the behavioral finance models tend to replace the traditional models of market functions. The weaknesses in this area, explained by him (Gervais, 2001) are that generally the market behavior displayed is attributed to overreaction and sometimes to under reaction. Where People take the behavior that seems to be easy for the particular study regardless of the fact that whether these biases are the result of underlying economic forces or not. Secondly, Lack of trained and expert people. The field does not have enough trained professionals both academic psychology and traditional finance and so the models that are being put up together are improvised. David Hirshleifer (Gervais, 2001) focuses on the individual behavior influencing asset prices, suggesting that behavioral finance is in its developmental stage and not yet a mature one, theres a lot of disagreement but productive one. Hirshleifer agrees that applying behavioral-finance concepts to corporate finance can pay off. If managers are imperfectly rational, he says, perhaps they are not evaluating investments correctly. They may make bad choices in their capital-structure decisions. Few people realistically think behavioral finance will displace efficient-markets theory. On the other hand, the idea that investors and managers are not uniformly rational makes insightful sense to many people. Traditional Finance Empirical Evidence: â€Å"Traditional theory assumes that agents are rational the law of one price holds† that is a perfect scenario. Where the law of â€Å"One price† states that securities with the same pay off have same price, but in real world this law is violated when people purchase securities in one market for immediate resale in another, in search of higher profits because of price differentials known as â€Å"Arbitrageurs†. And the agents rationality explains the behavior of investor â€Å"Professional Individual† which is generally inconsistent with the rationality or the future predictions. If a market achieves a perfect scenario where agents are rational law of one price holds then the market is efficient. With the availability of amount of information, the form of market changes. It is unlikely that market prices contain all private information. The presence of â€Å"noise traders† (traders, trading randomly not based on information). Researches show that stock returns are typically unpredictable based on past returns where as future returns are predictable to some extent. Few examples from the past literature explains the problem of irrationality which occurs because of naà ¯ve diversification, behavior influenced by framing, the tendency of investors of committing systematic errors while evaluating public information.(Glaser et al, 2003) Recent studies suggest that peoples` attitude towards the riskiness of a stock in future the individual interpretation may explain the higher level trading volume, which itself is a vast topic for insight. A problem of perception exist in the investors that Stocks have a higher risk adjusted returns than bonds. Another issue with the investors is that these investors either care about the whole stock portfolio or just about the value of each single security in their portfolio and thus ignore the correlations. The concept of ownership society has been promoted in the recent years where people can take better care of their own lives and be better citizen too if they are both owner of financial assets and homeowners. As a researcher suggested that in order to improve the lives of less advantaged in our society is to teach them how to be capitalist, In order to put the ownership society in its right perspective, behavioral finance is needed to be understood. The ownership society seems very attractive when people appear to make profits from their investments. Behavioral finance also is very helpful in understanding justifying government involvement in the investing decisions of individuals. The failure of millions of people to save properly for their future is also a core problem of behavioral finance. (Shiller, 2006) According to (Glaser et al, 2003) there are two approaches towards Behavioral Finance, where both tend to have same goals. The goals tend to explain observed prices, Market trading Volume Last but not the least is the individual behavior better than traditional finance models. Belief Based Model: Psychology (Individual Behavior) Incorporates into Model Market prices Transaction Volume. It includes findings such as Overconfidence, Biased Self- Attrition, and Conservatism Representativeness. Preference Based Model: Rational Friction or from psychology Find explanations, Market detects irregularities individual behavior. It incorporates Prospect Theory, House money effect other forms of mental accounting. Behavioral Finance and Rational debate: The article by (Heaton and Rosenberg,2004) highlights the debate between the rational and behavioral model over testability and predictive success. And we find that neither of them actually offers either of these measures of success. The rational approach uses a particular type of rationalization methodology; which goes on to form the basis of behavior finance predictions. A closer look into the rational finance model goes on to show that it employs ex post rationalizations of observed price behaviours. This allows them greater flexibility when offering explanations for economic anomalies. On the other hand the behavior paradigm criticizes rationalizations as having no concrete role in predicting prices accurately, that utility functions, information sets and transaction costs cannot be ‘rationalized. Ironically they also reject the rational finances explanatory power which plays an essential role in the limits of arbitrage, which actually makes behavioral finance possible. Milton Friedmans theory lays the basis of positive economics. His methodology focuses on how to make a particular prediction; it is irrelevant whether a particular assumption is rational or irrational. According to this methodology, the rational finance model relies on a limited â€Å"assumption space since all assumptions that are supposedly not rational have been eliminated. This is one of the major reasons behind the little success in rational finance predictions. Despite the minimal results, adherents of this model have criticized the behavioral model as lacking quantifiable predictions that are based on mathematical models. Rational finance has targeted a more important aspect in the structure of the economy, i.e. investor uncertainty, which further cause financial anomalies. In explaining these assertions, the behavioural emphasises the importance of taking limits in arbitrage. Friedmans methodological approach falls into the category ‘instrumentalism, which basically states that theories are tools for predictions and used to draw inferences. Whether an assumption is realistic or rational is of no value to an instrumentalist. By narrowing what may or may not be possible, one will inevitably eliminate certain strategies or behaviors which might in fact go on to maximize utility or profits based on their uniqueness. An assumption could be irrational even in the long run, but it is continuously revised and refined to make it into something useful. In opposition to this, many individuals have gone on to say that behaviouralists are not bound by any constraints thus making their explanations systematically irrational. Rubinstein (2001) described how when everyone fails to explain a particular anomaly, suddenly a behavioral aspect to it will come up, because that can be based on completely abstract irrational assumptions. To support rationality, Rubinstein came up with two arguments. Firstly he went on to say that an irrational strategy that is profitable, will only attract copy cat firms or traders into the market. This is supported when a closer look is given towards limits to arbitrage. Secondly through the process of evolution, irrational decisions will eventually be eliminated in the long run. The major achievements characterized of the rational finance paradigm consist of the following: the principle of no arbitrage; market efficiency, the net present value decision rule, derivatives valuation techniques; Markowitzs (1952) mean-variance framework; event studies; multifactor models such as the APT, ICAPM, and the Consumption- CAPM. Despite the number of top achievements that supporters of the rational model claim, the paradigm fails to answer some of the most basic financial economic questions such as ‘What is the cost of capital for this firm? or ‘What is its optimal capital structure?; simply because of their self imposed constraints. So far this makes it seem like rational finance and behavioral finance are mutually exclusive. Contrary to this, they are actually interdependent, and overlap in several areas. Take for instance the concept of mispricing when there is no arbitrage. Behavior finance on the other hand suggests that this may not be the case; irrational assumptions in the market will still lead to mispricing. Further even though certain arbitrageurs may be able to identify irrationality induced mispricing, because of the imperfect market information, they are unable to convince investors of its existence. Over here, the rational model is accepting the existence of anomalies which are affected both through the factors of risk and chance; therefore coinciding with the perspective of behavioral finance. Two instances are clear examples of how rationalization is an important limit of arbitrage: i) the build-up and blow-up of the internet bubble; and ii) the superiority of value equity strategies. If we focus on the latter, we are able to see behavioral finance literature that highlights the superiority of such strategies in the ability of analysts to extrapolate results for investors. This is possible when rationalization is taken as a limit to arbitrage. Similarly these strategies may also limit arbitrage against mispricing, through the great risk associated with stocks. In explaining most anomalies it is essential that analysts first conclude whether pricing is rational or not. To prove their hypothesis that irrationality-induced mispricing exists, behaviouralists may find it easier if they accepted the role of rationalization in limits of arbitrage. Slow information diffusion and short-sales constraints are other factors that explain mispricing. However these factors alone cannot form the basis of a strong and concrete explanation that will clarify pricing across firms and also across time. Those supporting the rational paradigm attack behavioral finance adherents in that their predictions for the financial market have been made on irrational assumptions; that are not supported by concrete mathematical or scientific models. In their view the lack of concrete discipline in the methodology adopted in behavior finance leads to the lack of testing in their forecasts. On the other hand the rational model is criticized for its lack of success in financial predictions. The behaviouralists claim that this limitation exists because the supporters of rational finance dismiss aspects of the economic market simply because it may not fall into explainable rational behavior. Both perspectives claim to align themselves with respect to the goals of ‘testability and ‘predictions, while at the same time continue to offer evidence against the other model. In reality however, rather than being exclusively mutual both paradigms assist one another in making their predictions. BODY: A cognitive bias is a persons tendency to make errors, based on cognitive factors. Forms of cognitive bias include errors in statistical judgment, social attribution, and memory that are common to all human beings. (Crowell, 1994, p. 1) â€Å"Cognitive bias is the tendency of intelligent, well-informed people to consistently do the wrong thing†. The reason behind this cognitive bias is that the Human brain is made for interpersonal relationships and not for processing statistics. The paper discusses facility of forecasts. Generally it is said that the world is divided into two groups. One who forecasts positively and one negatively. These forecasts exaggerate the reliability of their forecasts and trace it to the â€Å"illusion of validity† which exists even when the illusionary character is recognized. (Fisher and Statman, 2000) discussed five cognitive bias, underlying the illusion of validity that are Overconfidence, Confirmation, Representativeness, Anchoring, and Hindsight (Shiller, 2002) discusses, that irrational behavior may disappear with more learning and a much more structured situation. As the past research proves it that may of cognitive biases in human judgment value uncertainty will change, they may be convinced if given proper instructions, on the part-experience of irrational behavior. There are three main themes in behavioral finance and economics Heuristics: People often make decisions based on approximate rules of thumb, not strictly rational analysis. See also cognitive biases and bounded rationality. Prospect theory Loss aversion Status quo bias Gamblers fallacy Self-serving bias Money illusion Framing: The way a problem or decision is presented to the decision maker will affect their action. Cognitive framing Mental accounting Anchoring Market inefficiencies: There are explanations for observed market outcomes that are contrary to rational expectations and market efficiency. These include mis-pricings, non-rational decision making, and return anomalies. Richard Thaler, in particular, has described specific market anomalies from a behavioral perspective. Anomalies (economic behavior) Disposition effect Endowment effect Inequity aversion Intertemporal consumption Present-biased preferences Momentum investing Greed and fear Herd behavior Anomalies (market prices and returns) Equity premium puzzle Efficiency wage hypothesis Limits to arbitrage Dividend puzzle Models in behavioral economics are typically addressed to a particular observed market anomaly and adjust standard neo-classical models by describing decision makers as using heuristics and being affected by framing effects. In general, economics sits within the neoclassical framework, though the standard assumption of rational behavior is often challenged. Loix et. Al in their paper â€Å"Orientation towards Finances† explains the individual financial management behavior, people dealing with their financial means. They have analyzed the Non-specific Financial behavior as already we see extensive research on the specific finance behavior such as saving, Taxation, Gambling, amassing debt. But they had given a lot of importance to stock market, investors and households. The analysis of general public`s behavior was done, where an ordinary man is not sure and simply act according to the guesses over their money related issues. It was also found that people interested in economic and financial matters are much more active in collecting specific information than general public, stating that financial behavior of household is an important relevant topic that needs to be discussed in much more details. Household financial management is similar to the financial management. The construct of orientation towards finances was developed where the individual ORTO FIN focuses on competencies (interest and skills). Having stronger money attitude is an indication of stronger orientation towards finances and much more effective competencies. Therefore we expect some relevance and similarity between corporate and household management behavior as both require organizing, forecasting, planning and control. (Loix et. al, 2005) analyzed general publics behavior in basically dividing them into two groups, Financial Information Personal financial planning. Also explaining some practical and theoretical gaps in the area of psychology of money usage, they concluded that ORTOFIN (Orientation towards finance) indicates the involvement of individuals in managing their finances. Proving out the point that active interest in financial information and an urge to plan expenses are two main factors. A stronger ORTFIN indicates: Greater use of debit accounts, Higher savings account, Wide variety of investments, Greater awareness of ones financial Intimate knowledge of the details of Ones savings/deposit accounts obsessed by money, Higher achievement and power in monetary terms, Further age is also inversely proportional. Shiller in 2006, in his article talked about the the co-evolution of neo-classical and behavior finance. In 1937 when A. Samuelsson one of the great economists wrote about people maximizing the present value of utility subject to a present vale budget constraint. Another judgment he realized was time being consistent human behavior where if at any time t 0 Where people reconsidered the problem of maximization from that date forward, they would not change their decision where as in real life it is totally opposite for example people sometimes try to control themselves by binding their future decision as from history we find out that that some of man make irrevocable trust in the taking out of life insurance as a compulsory savings measure. (shiller, 2006, p.) Considering personal saving rate, saving and down for no reason has emerged as a weakness of human self control. People seem to be vulnerable to complacency from time to time about providing for their own future. The distinction between neoclassical and behavioral finance have therefore been exaggerated. Both of them are not completely different from each other. Behavioral finance is more elastic willing to learn from other sciences and less concerned about the elegance of models whereby explaining human behavior Investing and cognitive bias: Money Managers Money management is a very popular phenomenon. The performance in the stock market is measured at the daily basis and not to wait for a highly subjective annual review of ones performance by ones superior. Market grades you on a daily basis. The smarter one is, the more confident one becomes of ones ability to succeed, clients support them by trusting them that eventually helps their careers. But the truth is that few money managers put in sufficient amount of time and effort to figure out what works and develop a set of investment principles to guide their investment decisions (Browne, 2000). Further Browne discussed the importance of asset allocation and risk aversion, in order to understand why we do what we do regardless of whether it is rational or not. General public opts for money Managers to deal with their finances and these managers are categorized in three ways: Value Managers, Growth Managers and Market Neutral Managers. The vast majority of money managers are categorized as either value managers or growth managers although a third category, market neutral managers, is gaining popularity these days and may soon rival the so-called strategies of value and growth. Some investment management firms even are being cautious by offering all styles of investments. What too few money managers do is analyze the fundamental financial characteristics of portfolios that produce long-term market beating results, and develop a set of investment principles that are based on those findings. Difference of opinion on the definition of Value is the problem.The reasons for this are two-fold, one being the practical reality of managing large sums of money, and the other related to behavior. As the assets under management of an advisor grow, the universe of potential stocks shrinks Analyzing that why individual and professional investors do not change their behavior even when they face empirical evidence, that suggests that their decisions are less than optimal. An answer to this question is said to be that being a contrarian may simply be too risky for the average individual or professional. If a person is wrong on the collective basis, where everyone else also had made a mistake, the consequences professionally and for ones own self-esteem are far less than if a person is wrong alone. The herd instinct allows for the comfort of safety in numbers. The other reason is that individuals try to behave the same way and do not tend to change courses of action if they are happy. If the results are not too painful individuals can be happy with sub-optimal results. Moreover, individuals who tend to be unhappy make changes often and eventually end up being just as unhappy in their new circumstances. According to the traditional view of Investment management, fundamental forces drive markets, however many other investment firms considers to be active and working out based on their experienced Judgment. It is also believed that Judgmental overrides of Value Fundamental forces of markets can be lethal as well as a cause of Financial Disappointment. From the history it has been found that people Override at the wrong times and in most cases would be better off sticking to their investment disciplines (Crowell, 1994) and the reason to this behavior is the Cognitive bias. According to many researchers, stocks of small companies with low price/book ratios provide excess returns. Therefore, given a choice among small cheap stocks large high priced stocks, prominent investors (financial analysts, senior company executives and company directors) will certainly prefer the small cheap ones. But the fact is opposite to this situation where these prominent investors would opt for large high priced ones and so suffer from cognitive bias and further regret. According to a survey in 1992/1993, a research was carried out that included senior executives directors where they were suppose to rate companies in their industries on eight factors: Quality of management, Quality of products services, Innovativeness, Long term investment value, Financial soundness, Ability to attract, develop and keep talented people, Responsibility to the community and environment, Wise use of corporate assets. The assumptions that we made were that that â€Å"Long term investment value should be negatively correlated with size since small stocks provide superior returns. Long term Investment value should have a negative correlation with Price/book since low Price/Book stocks provide superior returns†.(Crowell, 1994). Whereas the results of the survey were contrary that stated that Long Term Investment had a positive correlation with the size and also that the Long term investment value had a positive correlation with the Price/Book stocks. According to Shefrin and statman, prominent investors overestimate the probability that a good company is a good stock, relying on the representative heuristics, concluding that superior companies make superior stocks. Aversion to Regret: aversion to regret is different from aversion to risk, Regret is acute when the individual must take responsibility for the final outcome. Aversion to regret leads to a preference for stocks of good companies. The choice of the stocks of bad companies involves more personal responsibility and higher probability of regret. Therefore, we find there are two major Cognitive errors: â€Å"We have a double cognitive error: a Good company make good stocks (representativeness), and involves less responsibility(Less aversion to regret† (Crowell, 1994,p.3) The Anti Cognitive bias actions would be admitting to your owned stocks, admitting earlier investment mistakes. Further Taking the responsibility for the actions to improve their performance in the future. The reasons for all the available disciplines, tools, and quantitative techniques is to deal with the Cognitive bias error, where the quantitative investment techniques enables the investment managers to overcome cognitive bias, follow sound investment, and eventually be successful contrarian investor(one who rejects the majority opinion, as in economic matters). Behavioral finance also is very helpful in understanding justifying government involvement in the investing decisions of individuals. The failure of millions of people to save properly for their future is also a core problem of behavioral finance. With the help of two very important examples Shiller explains how Government involvement can influence financial investments of individuals. In April 2005 â€Å"Tony Blair† stated a program when all new born babies were given a birthday present of 250 to 500. The present were to choose among a number of investment alternatives to invest until child comes of age. This is an effect done in order to make the parents feel connected with investments and modern economy. Another example: as it is said that people should be heavily active in stock market when they are young and so generally should reduce the activity with age. According to the conventional rule people should have 100 Age = % age of investment In 2005 president bush also portfolio announced one such plan for personal account â€Å"life cycle fund† which would be among the option that works will be offered to invest their personal account. It was A centerpiece of the presidents proposal bur a major point to be noticed was the default option. An important aspect of behavioral finance is the human attention is capricious focuses heavily tat same times on financial calculations and are subject to distraction and dissipation of default option is central. All this brings us a question that what should an intertemporal optimizer do to manage his portfolio over the lifetime. According to Samuelson someone who wished to maximize the expected value of his intertemporal utility function by managing the allocation of the portfolio between a high yielding asset and less yielding asset would not actually change the allocation through time. Neoclassic finance appears highly relevant to such a discussion in that it offers the appropriate theoretical framework for considering what people ought to do with the portfolio if not what they actually do. Behavioral is beginning to play an important role in public policy such as in social security reforms. Agents Rationality: Global culture Culture Social Contagion: The selective attention exhibited by a human mind is the concept of culture. Every nation, tribe or asocial group has a social cognition reinforced by conversation ritual and symbols, rituals and supposition of a particular nation has a subtle but far reliability affect on human behavior. Some researchers found that the unique customs of people actually arise as a logical consequence of a belief system of a nation group of people. Cultural factor were found to have great influence on rational or irrational behavior. We find many factors that are same across countries , e.g fashion, music, movies, youthful rebellious, other than these we find more factors in producing internationally- similar human behaviors then just rational reactions. Therefore it is a difficult job to decide in what avenues global culture exerts Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) INTRODUCTION: Much of modern investment theory and practice is predicated on the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), the assumption that markets fully and instantaneously integrate all available information into market prices. Underlying this comprehensive idea is the assumption that the market participants are perfectly rational, and always act in self-interest, making optimal decisions. These assumptions have been challenged. It is difficult to tip over the Neo classical convention that has yielded such insights as portfolio optimization, the â€Å"Capital Asset Pricing Model†, the â€Å"Arbitrage Pricing Theory†, the â€Å"Cox Ingersoll-Ross theory† of the term structure of interest rates, and the â€Å"Black-S[choles/Merton option pricing model†, all of which are predicated on the EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis) in one way or another. At few points the EMH criticizes the existing literature of behavioral finance, which shows the difference of opinion on psychology economics. The field of psychology has its roots in empirical observation, controlled experimentation, and clinical applications. According to psychology, behavior is the main entity of study, and only after controlled experimental dimensions do psychologists attempt to make inferences about the origins of such behavior. On the contrary, economists typically derive behavior axiomatically from simple principles such as expected utility maximization, making it easier for us to predict economic behavior that are routinely refuted empirically The biggest threats to Modern Portfolio theory is the theory of Behavioral Finance. It is an analysis of why investors make irrational decisions with respect to their money, normal distribution of expected returns generally appears to be invalid and also that the investors support upside risks rather than downside risks. The theory of Behavioral finance is opposite to the traditional theory of Finance which deals with human emotions, sentiments, conditions, biases on collective as well as individual basis. Behavior finance theory is helpful in explaining the past practices of investors and also to determine the future of investors. Behavioral finance is a concept of finance which deals with finances incorporating findings from psychology sociology. It is reviewed that behavioral finance is generally based on individual behavior or on the implication for financial market outcomes. There are many models explaining behavioral finance that explains investors behavior or market irregularities where the rational models fail to provide adequate information. We do not expect such a research to provide a method to make lots of money from the inefficient financial market very fast. Behavioral finance has basically emerged from the theories of psychology, sociology and anthropology the implications of these theories appear to be significant for the efficient market hypothesis, that is based on the positive notion that people behave rationally, maximize their utility and are able to prices observation, a number of anomalies (irregularities) have appeared, which in turn suggest that in the efficient market the principle of rational behavior is not always correct. So, the idea of analyzing other model of human behavior has came up. Further (Gervais, 2001) explained the concept where he says that People like to relate to the stock market as a person having different moods, it can be bad-tempered or high-spirited, it can overreact one day and make amends the next. As we know that human behavior is unpredictable and it behaves differently in different situations. Lately many researchers have suggested the idea that psychological analysis of investors may be very helpful in understanding the financial markets better. To do so it is important to understand the behavioral finance presenting the concept that Investors are not as rational as traditional theory has assumed, and biases in their decision-making can have a cumulative effect on asset prices. To many researchers behavioral finance is a revolution, transforming how people see the markets and what influences prices. The paradigm is shifting. People are continuing to walk across the border from the traditional to the behavioral camp†. (Gervais, 2001, P.2) . On the contrary some people believe that may be its too early call it a revolution. Eugene Fama( Gervais, 2001) argued that Behavioral finance has not really shown impacts on the world prices, and the models contradict each other on different point of times. He gave little credit to behaviorist explanations of trends and anomalies(any occurrence or object that is strange, unusual, or unique) arguing that data-mining techniques make it possible to locate patterns. Other researchers have also criticized the idea that the behavioral finance models tend to replace the traditional models of market functions. The weaknesses in this area, explained by him (Gervais, 2001) are that generally the market behavior displayed is attributed to overreaction and sometimes to under reaction. Where People take the behavior that seems to be easy for the particular study regardless of the fact that whether these biases are the result of underlying economic forces or not. Secondly, Lack of trained and expert people. The field does not have enough trained professionals both academic psychology and traditional finance and so the models that are being put up together are improvised. David Hirshleifer (Gervais, 2001) focuses on the individual behavior influencing asset prices, suggesting that behavioral finance is in its developmental stage and not yet a mature one, theres a lot of disagreement but productive one. Hirshleifer agrees that applying behavioral-finance concepts to corporate finance can pay off. If managers are imperfectly rational, he says, perhaps they are not evaluating investments correctly. They may make bad choices in their capital-structure decisions. Few people realistically think behavioral finance will displace efficient-markets theory. On the other hand, the idea that investors and managers are not uniformly rational makes insightful sense to many people. Traditional Finance Empirical Evidence: â€Å"Traditional theory assumes that agents are rational the law of one price holds† that is a perfect scenario. Where the law of â€Å"One price† states that securities with the same pay off have same price, but in real world this law is violated when people purchase securities in one market for immediate resale in another, in search of higher profits because of price differentials known as â€Å"Arbitrageurs†. And the agents rationality explains the behavior of investor â€Å"Professional Individual† which is generally inconsistent with the rationality or the future predictions. If a market achieves a perfect scenario where agents are rational law of one price holds then the market is efficient. With the availability of amount of information, the form of market changes. It is unlikely that market prices contain all private information. The presence of â€Å"noise traders† (traders, trading randomly not based on information). Researches show that stock returns are typically unpredictable based on past returns where as future returns are predictable to some extent. Few examples from the past literature explains the problem of irrationality which occurs because of naà ¯ve diversification, behavior influenced by framing, the tendency of investors of committing systematic errors while evaluating public information.(Glaser et al, 2003) Recent studies suggest that peoples` attitude towards the riskiness of a stock in future the individual interpretation may explain the higher level trading volume, which itself is a vast topic for insight. A problem of perception exist in the investors that Stocks have a higher risk adjusted returns than bonds. Another issue with the investors is that these investors either care about the whole stock portfolio or just about the value of each single security in their portfolio and thus ignore the correlations. The concept of ownership society has been promoted in the recent years where people can take better care of their own lives and be better citizen too if they are both owner of financial assets and homeowners. As a researcher suggested that in order to improve the lives of less advantaged in our society is to teach them how to be capitalist, In order to put the ownership society in its right perspective, behavioral finance is needed to be understood. The ownership society seems very attractive when people appear to make profits from their investments. Behavioral finance also is very helpful in understanding justifying government involvement in the investing decisions of individuals. The failure of millions of people to save properly for their future is also a core problem of behavioral finance. (Shiller, 2006) According to (Glaser et al, 2003) there are two approaches towards Behavioral Finance, where both tend to have same goals. The goals tend to explain observed prices, Market trading Volume Last but not the least is the individual behavior better than traditional finance models. Belief Based Model: Psychology (Individual Behavior) Incorporates into Model Market prices Transaction Volume. It includes findings such as Overconfidence, Biased Self- Attrition, and Conservatism Representativeness. Preference Based Model: Rational Friction or from psychology Find explanations, Market detects irregularities individual behavior. It incorporates Prospect Theory, House money effect other forms of mental accounting. Behavioral Finance and Rational debate: The article by (Heaton and Rosenberg,2004) highlights the debate between the rational and behavioral model over testability and predictive success. And we find that neither of them actually offers either of these measures of success. The rational approach uses a particular type of rationalization methodology; which goes on to form the basis of behavior finance predictions. A closer look into the rational finance model goes on to show that it employs ex post rationalizations of observed price behaviours. This allows them greater flexibility when offering explanations for economic anomalies. On the other hand the behavior paradigm criticizes rationalizations as having no concrete role in predicting prices accurately, that utility functions, information sets and transaction costs cannot be ‘rationalized. Ironically they also reject the rational finances explanatory power which plays an essential role in the limits of arbitrage, which actually makes behavioral finance possible. Milton Friedmans theory lays the basis of positive economics. His methodology focuses on how to make a particular prediction; it is irrelevant whether a particular assumption is rational or irrational. According to this methodology, the rational finance model relies on a limited â€Å"assumption space since all assumptions that are supposedly not rational have been eliminated. This is one of the major reasons behind the little success in rational finance predictions. Despite the minimal results, adherents of this model have criticized the behavioral model as lacking quantifiable predictions that are based on mathematical models. Rational finance has targeted a more important aspect in the structure of the economy, i.e. investor uncertainty, which further cause financial anomalies. In explaining these assertions, the behavioural emphasises the importance of taking limits in arbitrage. Friedmans methodological approach falls into the category ‘instrumentalism, which basically states that theories are tools for predictions and used to draw inferences. Whether an assumption is realistic or rational is of no value to an instrumentalist. By narrowing what may or may not be possible, one will inevitably eliminate certain strategies or behaviors which might in fact go on to maximize utility or profits based on their uniqueness. An assumption could be irrational even in the long run, but it is continuously revised and refined to make it into something useful. In opposition to this, many individuals have gone on to say that behaviouralists are not bound by any constraints thus making their explanations systematically irrational. Rubinstein (2001) described how when everyone fails to explain a particular anomaly, suddenly a behavioral aspect to it will come up, because that can be based on completely abstract irrational assumptions. To support rationality, Rubinstein came up with two arguments. Firstly he went on to say that an irrational strategy that is profitable, will only attract copy cat firms or traders into the market. This is supported when a closer look is given towards limits to arbitrage. Secondly through the process of evolution, irrational decisions will eventually be eliminated in the long run. The major achievements characterized of the rational finance paradigm consist of the following: the principle of no arbitrage; market efficiency, the net present value decision rule, derivatives valuation techniques; Markowitzs (1952) mean-variance framework; event studies; multifactor models such as the APT, ICAPM, and the Consumption- CAPM. Despite the number of top achievements that supporters of the rational model claim, the paradigm fails to answer some of the most basic financial economic questions such as ‘What is the cost of capital for this firm? or ‘What is its optimal capital structure?; simply because of their self imposed constraints. So far this makes it seem like rational finance and behavioral finance are mutually exclusive. Contrary to this, they are actually interdependent, and overlap in several areas. Take for instance the concept of mispricing when there is no arbitrage. Behavior finance on the other hand suggests that this may not be the case; irrational assumptions in the market will still lead to mispricing. Further even though certain arbitrageurs may be able to identify irrationality induced mispricing, because of the imperfect market information, they are unable to convince investors of its existence. Over here, the rational model is accepting the existence of anomalies which are affected both through the factors of risk and chance; therefore coinciding with the perspective of behavioral finance. Two instances are clear examples of how rationalization is an important limit of arbitrage: i) the build-up and blow-up of the internet bubble; and ii) the superiority of value equity strategies. If we focus on the latter, we are able to see behavioral finance literature that highlights the superiority of such strategies in the ability of analysts to extrapolate results for investors. This is possible when rationalization is taken as a limit to arbitrage. Similarly these strategies may also limit arbitrage against mispricing, through the great risk associated with stocks. In explaining most anomalies it is essential that analysts first conclude whether pricing is rational or not. To prove their hypothesis that irrationality-induced mispricing exists, behaviouralists may find it easier if they accepted the role of rationalization in limits of arbitrage. Slow information diffusion and short-sales constraints are other factors that explain mispricing. However these factors alone cannot form the basis of a strong and concrete explanation that will clarify pricing across firms and also across time. Those supporting the rational paradigm attack behavioral finance adherents in that their predictions for the financial market have been made on irrational assumptions; that are not supported by concrete mathematical or scientific models. In their view the lack of concrete discipline in the methodology adopted in behavior finance leads to the lack of testing in their forecasts. On the other hand the rational model is criticized for its lack of success in financial predictions. The behaviouralists claim that this limitation exists because the supporters of rational finance dismiss aspects of the economic market simply because it may not fall into explainable rational behavior. Both perspectives claim to align themselves with respect to the goals of ‘testability and ‘predictions, while at the same time continue to offer evidence against the other model. In reality however, rather than being exclusively mutual both paradigms assist one another in making their predictions. BODY: A cognitive bias is a persons tendency to make errors, based on cognitive factors. Forms of cognitive bias include errors in statistical judgment, social attribution, and memory that are common to all human beings. (Crowell, 1994, p. 1) â€Å"Cognitive bias is the tendency of intelligent, well-informed people to consistently do the wrong thing†. The reason behind this cognitive bias is that the Human brain is made for interpersonal relationships and not for processing statistics. The paper discusses facility of forecasts. Generally it is said that the world is divided into two groups. One who forecasts positively and one negatively. These forecasts exaggerate the reliability of their forecasts and trace it to the â€Å"illusion of validity† which exists even when the illusionary character is recognized. (Fisher and Statman, 2000) discussed five cognitive bias, underlying the illusion of validity that are Overconfidence, Confirmation, Representativeness, Anchoring, and Hindsight (Shiller, 2002) discusses, that irrational behavior may disappear with more learning and a much more structured situation. As the past research proves it that may of cognitive biases in human judgment value uncertainty will change, they may be convinced if given proper instructions, on the part-experience of irrational behavior. There are three main themes in behavioral finance and economics Heuristics: People often make decisions based on approximate rules of thumb, not strictly rational analysis. See also cognitive biases and bounded rationality. Prospect theory Loss aversion Status quo bias Gamblers fallacy Self-serving bias Money illusion Framing: The way a problem or decision is presented to the decision maker will affect their action. Cognitive framing Mental accounting Anchoring Market inefficiencies: There are explanations for observed market outcomes that are contrary to rational expectations and market efficiency. These include mis-pricings, non-rational decision making, and return anomalies. Richard Thaler, in particular, has described specific market anomalies from a behavioral perspective. Anomalies (economic behavior) Disposition effect Endowment effect Inequity aversion Intertemporal consumption Present-biased preferences Momentum investing Greed and fear Herd behavior Anomalies (market prices and returns) Equity premium puzzle Efficiency wage hypothesis Limits to arbitrage Dividend puzzle Models in behavioral economics are typically addressed to a particular observed market anomaly and adjust standard neo-classical models by describing decision makers as using heuristics and being affected by framing effects. In general, economics sits within the neoclassical framework, though the standard assumption of rational behavior is often challenged. Loix et. Al in their paper â€Å"Orientation towards Finances† explains the individual financial management behavior, people dealing with their financial means. They have analyzed the Non-specific Financial behavior as already we see extensive research on the specific finance behavior such as saving, Taxation, Gambling, amassing debt. But they had given a lot of importance to stock market, investors and households. The analysis of general public`s behavior was done, where an ordinary man is not sure and simply act according to the guesses over their money related issues. It was also found that people interested in economic and financial matters are much more active in collecting specific information than general public, stating that financial behavior of household is an important relevant topic that needs to be discussed in much more details. Household financial management is similar to the financial management. The construct of orientation towards finances was developed where the individual ORTO FIN focuses on competencies (interest and skills). Having stronger money attitude is an indication of stronger orientation towards finances and much more effective competencies. Therefore we expect some relevance and similarity between corporate and household management behavior as both require organizing, forecasting, planning and control. (Loix et. al, 2005) analyzed general publics behavior in basically dividing them into two groups, Financial Information Personal financial planning. Also explaining some practical and theoretical gaps in the area of psychology of money usage, they concluded that ORTOFIN (Orientation towards finance) indicates the involvement of individuals in managing their finances. Proving out the point that active interest in financial information and an urge to plan expenses are two main factors. A stronger ORTFIN indicates: Greater use of debit accounts, Higher savings account, Wide variety of investments, Greater awareness of ones financial Intimate knowledge of the details of Ones savings/deposit accounts obsessed by money, Higher achievement and power in monetary terms, Further age is also inversely proportional. Shiller in 2006, in his article talked about the the co-evolution of neo-classical and behavior finance. In 1937 when A. Samuelsson one of the great economists wrote about people maximizing the present value of utility subject to a present vale budget constraint. Another judgment he realized was time being consistent human behavior where if at any time t 0 Where people reconsidered the problem of maximization from that date forward, they would not change their decision where as in real life it is totally opposite for example people sometimes try to control themselves by binding their future decision as from history we find out that that some of man make irrevocable trust in the taking out of life insurance as a compulsory savings measure. (shiller, 2006, p.) Considering personal saving rate, saving and down for no reason has emerged as a weakness of human self control. People seem to be vulnerable to complacency from time to time about providing for their own future. The distinction between neoclassical and behavioral finance have therefore been exaggerated. Both of them are not completely different from each other. Behavioral finance is more elastic willing to learn from other sciences and less concerned about the elegance of models whereby explaining human behavior Investing and cognitive bias: Money Managers Money management is a very popular phenomenon. The performance in the stock market is measured at the daily basis and not to wait for a highly subjective annual review of ones performance by ones superior. Market grades you on a daily basis. The smarter one is, the more confident one becomes of ones ability to succeed, clients support them by trusting them that eventually helps their careers. But the truth is that few money managers put in sufficient amount of time and effort to figure out what works and develop a set of investment principles to guide their investment decisions (Browne, 2000). Further Browne discussed the importance of asset allocation and risk aversion, in order to understand why we do what we do regardless of whether it is rational or not. General public opts for money Managers to deal with their finances and these managers are categorized in three ways: Value Managers, Growth Managers and Market Neutral Managers. The vast majority of money managers are categorized as either value managers or growth managers although a third category, market neutral managers, is gaining popularity these days and may soon rival the so-called strategies of value and growth. Some investment management firms even are being cautious by offering all styles of investments. What too few money managers do is analyze the fundamental financial characteristics of portfolios that produce long-term market beating results, and develop a set of investment principles that are based on those findings. Difference of opinion on the definition of Value is the problem.The reasons for this are two-fold, one being the practical reality of managing large sums of money, and the other related to behavior. As the assets under management of an advisor grow, the universe of potential stocks shrinks Analyzing that why individual and professional investors do not change their behavior even when they face empirical evidence, that suggests that their decisions are less than optimal. An answer to this question is said to be that being a contrarian may simply be too risky for the average individual or professional. If a person is wrong on the collective basis, where everyone else also had made a mistake, the consequences professionally and for ones own self-esteem are far less than if a person is wrong alone. The herd instinct allows for the comfort of safety in numbers. The other reason is that individuals try to behave the same way and do not tend to change courses of action if they are happy. If the results are not too painful individuals can be happy with sub-optimal results. Moreover, individuals who tend to be unhappy make changes often and eventually end up being just as unhappy in their new circumstances. According to the traditional view of Investment management, fundamental forces drive markets, however many other investment firms considers to be active and working out based on their experienced Judgment. It is also believed that Judgmental overrides of Value Fundamental forces of markets can be lethal as well as a cause of Financial Disappointment. From the history it has been found that people Override at the wrong times and in most cases would be better off sticking to their investment disciplines (Crowell, 1994) and the reason to this behavior is the Cognitive bias. According to many researchers, stocks of small companies with low price/book ratios provide excess returns. Therefore, given a choice among small cheap stocks large high priced stocks, prominent investors (financial analysts, senior company executives and company directors) will certainly prefer the small cheap ones. But the fact is opposite to this situation where these prominent investors would opt for large high priced ones and so suffer from cognitive bias and further regret. According to a survey in 1992/1993, a research was carried out that included senior executives directors where they were suppose to rate companies in their industries on eight factors: Quality of management, Quality of products services, Innovativeness, Long term investment value, Financial soundness, Ability to attract, develop and keep talented people, Responsibility to the community and environment, Wise use of corporate assets. The assumptions that we made were that that â€Å"Long term investment value should be negatively correlated with size since small stocks provide superior returns. Long term Investment value should have a negative correlation with Price/book since low Price/Book stocks provide superior returns†.(Crowell, 1994). Whereas the results of the survey were contrary that stated that Long Term Investment had a positive correlation with the size and also that the Long term investment value had a positive correlation with the Price/Book stocks. According to Shefrin and statman, prominent investors overestimate the probability that a good company is a good stock, relying on the representative heuristics, concluding that superior companies make superior stocks. Aversion to Regret: aversion to regret is different from aversion to risk, Regret is acute when the individual must take responsibility for the final outcome. Aversion to regret leads to a preference for stocks of good companies. The choice of the stocks of bad companies involves more personal responsibility and higher probability of regret. Therefore, we find there are two major Cognitive errors: â€Å"We have a double cognitive error: a Good company make good stocks (representativeness), and involves less responsibility(Less aversion to regret† (Crowell, 1994,p.3) The Anti Cognitive bias actions would be admitting to your owned stocks, admitting earlier investment mistakes. Further Taking the responsibility for the actions to improve their performance in the future. The reasons for all the available disciplines, tools, and quantitative techniques is to deal with the Cognitive bias error, where the quantitative investment techniques enables the investment managers to overcome cognitive bias, follow sound investment, and eventually be successful contrarian investor(one who rejects the majority opinion, as in economic matters). Behavioral finance also is very helpful in understanding justifying government involvement in the investing decisions of individuals. The failure of millions of people to save properly for their future is also a core problem of behavioral finance. With the help of two very important examples Shiller explains how Government involvement can influence financial investments of individuals. In April 2005 â€Å"Tony Blair† stated a program when all new born babies were given a birthday present of 250 to 500. The present were to choose among a number of investment alternatives to invest until child comes of age. This is an effect done in order to make the parents feel connected with investments and modern economy. Another example: as it is said that people should be heavily active in stock market when they are young and so generally should reduce the activity with age. According to the conventional rule people should have 100 Age = % age of investment In 2005 president bush also portfolio announced one such plan for personal account â€Å"life cycle fund† which would be among the option that works will be offered to invest their personal account. It was A centerpiece of the presidents proposal bur a major point to be noticed was the default option. An important aspect of behavioral finance is the human attention is capricious focuses heavily tat same times on financial calculations and are subject to distraction and dissipation of default option is central. All this brings us a question that what should an intertemporal optimizer do to manage his portfolio over the lifetime. According to Samuelson someone who wished to maximize the expected value of his intertemporal utility function by managing the allocation of the portfolio between a high yielding asset and less yielding asset would not actually change the allocation through time. Neoclassic finance appears highly relevant to such a discussion in that it offers the appropriate theoretical framework for considering what people ought to do with the portfolio if not what they actually do. Behavioral is beginning to play an important role in public policy such as in social security reforms. Agents Rationality: Global culture Culture Social Contagion: The selective attention exhibited by a human mind is the concept of culture. Every nation, tribe or asocial group has a social cognition reinforced by conversation ritual and symbols, rituals and supposition of a particular nation has a subtle but far reliability affect on human behavior. Some researchers found that the unique customs of people actually arise as a logical consequence of a belief system of a nation group of people. Cultural factor were found to have great influence on rational or irrational behavior. We find many factors that are same across countries , e.g fashion, music, movies, youthful rebellious, other than these we find more factors in producing internationally- similar human behaviors then just rational reactions. Therefore it is a difficult job to decide in what avenues global culture exerts

Life and Achievements of Henry Ford :: Biography

Life and Achievements of Henry Ford Henry Ford was born in Dearborn, Michigan, on July 30, 1863. He died on April 7, 1947, in Dearborn. He started his career in production at the age of 16 as a machinist’s apprentice. He then began his career as a mechanical engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in 1888 and worked there until 1899. He founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903. He produced his first car, the Quadricycle, in 1896. He had developed this car in his spare time. He finally adopted a production method that would be used forever after its introduction. In 1913 Ford implemented standardized interchangeable parts and assembly-line techniques in his plant. This method of production is something very relevant to the field of industrial engineering. He was now able to maximize the use of his work force and increase production of vehicles substantially. Ford introduced his company’s most famous development, the Model T, in 1908. In its 19 years of production there were 15 million of the car produced. Despite this fact they were not the largest auto manufacturer because of Ford’s decision to he was too slow in adopting the practice of introducing a new model of vehicle each year. Despite this times were not hard at Ford. He was granted a war production contract in 1941, at the start of World War II. His company started off by manufacturing parts for bombers and eventually began to produce the entire airplane. By the time of the war’s completion in 1945 Ford’s assembly lines had successfully produced over 8000 airplanes. Aside from running an amazing business Ford had other interests, many which were charitable. Ford chartered a peace ship in 1915, in which he an other like minded individuals tried to convince the leaders of the countries involved in World War I to stop the war. Life and Achievements of Henry Ford :: Biography Life and Achievements of Henry Ford Henry Ford was born in Dearborn, Michigan, on July 30, 1863. He died on April 7, 1947, in Dearborn. He started his career in production at the age of 16 as a machinist’s apprentice. He then began his career as a mechanical engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in 1888 and worked there until 1899. He founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903. He produced his first car, the Quadricycle, in 1896. He had developed this car in his spare time. He finally adopted a production method that would be used forever after its introduction. In 1913 Ford implemented standardized interchangeable parts and assembly-line techniques in his plant. This method of production is something very relevant to the field of industrial engineering. He was now able to maximize the use of his work force and increase production of vehicles substantially. Ford introduced his company’s most famous development, the Model T, in 1908. In its 19 years of production there were 15 million of the car produced. Despite this fact they were not the largest auto manufacturer because of Ford’s decision to he was too slow in adopting the practice of introducing a new model of vehicle each year. Despite this times were not hard at Ford. He was granted a war production contract in 1941, at the start of World War II. His company started off by manufacturing parts for bombers and eventually began to produce the entire airplane. By the time of the war’s completion in 1945 Ford’s assembly lines had successfully produced over 8000 airplanes. Aside from running an amazing business Ford had other interests, many which were charitable. Ford chartered a peace ship in 1915, in which he an other like minded individuals tried to convince the leaders of the countries involved in World War I to stop the war.

Nightmare Cover Art Essay

Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. The band was formed in 1999. Presently, they consist of Matt Shadows(Vocalist), Johnny Christ(Bassist), Zacky Vengeance(Rhythm Guitarist) and Synyster Gates(Lead guitarist). Matt Sanders(M. Shadows); the lead singer of the band is one of the original founding members. He came up with the band name on being inspired by the fourth chapter in the Book of Genesis. It involves God asking Cain where his brother, Abel was. Cain answered that he didn’t know, when in fact, he had killed Abel. â€Å"†¦ whoever kills you will suffer seven times the vengeance.† (Genesis 4:15, International Standard Version). Jonathan Seward(Johnny Christ) is the fourth bassist, and joined the band while he was still in High School in the year 2003. He is the youngest and shortest in the band. Zack Baker(Zacky Vengeance) is the band’s left-handed rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist. Zacky was a self-taught guitarist and would play his dad’s right-handed guitar upside-down by watching his favourite bands play and other people he knew that played, and practised as much as he could. Brian Haner Jr.(Synyster Gates) plays the lead guitar, and does backup vocals for the band. His father is Brian Haner. He also plays in some Avenged Sevenfold tracks. He mostly plays acoustic guitar solos that duel back and forth with Synyster’s electric guitar and also helped his son write â€Å"So Far Away†, a track on the band’s latest album that Brian had finished writing in memory of his late best friend and band-mate, Jimmy â€Å"The Rev† Sullivan. The Rev was known to the world as one of the greatest drummers of all time. He passed away on 28th December 2009, due to an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Avenged Sevenfold kicked off with a metalcore sound on their first album ‘Sounding the Seventh Trumpet’, which included a lot of screaming vocals and heavy-metal guitar riffs. They then changed their style on their third release, ‘City of Evil’, which featured more of a mainstream hard rock style. They have still retained their heavy metal feel by using blazing guitar solos and blistering double-bass drumming patterns, while keeping their musical aggression at a minimum level compared to their earlier work which makes their music all the more appealing to the larger crowd. â€Å"The Rev ‘Seized the Day’ to conquer the ‘City of Evil’ in ‘Bat Country’, and forced the ‘Beast and the Harlot’ to ‘Scream’ their ‘Unholy Confessions’. He left them ‘Trashed and Scattered’ and ‘Blinded In Chains’ with the ‘Strength of the World’. He found it ‘Almost Easy’ and became a ‘Sidewinder’ and slithered to ‘A Little Piece of Heaven’ in his ‘Afterlife’, now he is ‘M.I.A.’ and his ‘Nightmare’ has come to pass. RIP Jimmy â€Å"The Rev† Sullivan, you’re gone but NEVER forgotten!† Sevenfold, A. (n.d.). Quote by Avenged Sevenfold. Retrieved December 10th, 2012 from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/308559-the-rev-seized-the-day-to-conquer-the-city-of This meaningful quote is a tribute to the late legend and also uses quite a few of Avenged Sevenfold’s track names as characteristics of the quote to convey a very important message about The Rev’s personality. Avenged Sevenfold has released five studio albums, fifteen singles, and one live album/compilation. The album artwork of their latest album ‘Nightmare’ deeply reflects on the music and the band’s life without their beloved friend, The Rev. The musicality has advanced since their emergence and this is their most technically advance album yet. At first glance, it’s no doubt that the band is Avenged Sevenfold. Not just because of the text stating the obvious, but because of their signature symbol that they have made known all over the world as the â€Å"Deathbat†. It was originally designed by their high school friend named Micah Montague. The Deathbat is the key element in almost any Avenged Sevenfold image or poster and has also appeared on every album cover, many of which were done by Cameron Rackam, a close acquaintance of the band. Another key element in this album’s artwork is the noticeable highlighting of the alphabets ‘REV’ in the word ‘Forever’ on the tombstone. There is a pretty deep connection through whic h emotions play a major role as to how the overall message is being conveyed, which in this case is the fact that The Rev; who was by no doubt a great person and who was loved by the whole world; has moved on into his afterlife and that his memories will be treasured in everyone’s hearts and minds ‘foREVer’. With regard to color theory, it’s safe to say that Nightmare’s album art is analogous in nature. Ranging from the green(dark; leaves) end to the blue end of the color spectrum wheel. In terms of temperature, this artwork has been designed to incline more towards the cooler half of the spectrum as it can be easily inferred because of its blue sky, especially at the point where the smoke is lighter in colour, in turn providing a chilled and cold effect. The girl’s pale skin is also a sign of fear which is a marvellous combination of taking the word ‘cold’ both, literally as well as metaphorically. The fonts used are pretty spooky too. The frequent uneven thickness in certain parts of different letters in ‘Avenged Sevenfold’ makes it the most noticeable component of the art. Also, as it is white in colour, it stands out from the rest of the contrasting colours. The red ‘Nightmare’ is the only warm colour used in the entire cover. It must be so because the artist was trying to convey feelings of passion and love towards their late friend. But also since the font has more edgy feel to it, it could have slight traces of anger and anxiety too. The deathbat here is no longer just a floating skull with small wings. The symbolism used here shows that the band has grown in maturity as well as musically; hence the large deathbat with a cloak covering its presently unknown body. The album is titled ‘Nightmare’ as it is a dark word that sends shivers down one’s spine. They’ve used a good combination of the cold environment in the picture along with the hot portrayal of the album-name(red in colour). It is called so because on the day they completed writing the record’s lyrics, The Rev admitted that he was totally excited and eager to record this album. But sadly, he passed away three days after that. This came as a shock to everyone and was a nightmare to the band. Hence they dedicated this album to him. Every time I look at the cover while listening to any of this album’s songs, it feels as though a story is being told. Every song is a reminder of The Rev and that was another reason why this album topped the billboard charts, standing at #1 in the first week itself. This album really connected to all Avenged Sevenfold fans.

Caroline Fergusson Gordon Essay Essay Example

Caroline Fergusson Gordon Essay Essay Example Caroline Fergusson Gordon Essay Essay Caroline Fergusson Gordon Essay Essay Essay Topic: A Christmas Carol Caroline Fergusson Gordon ( 1895-1981 ) was a literary critic and a celebrated American novelist. During her mid-thirtiess. her productive in literary plants was vindicated by her being awarded two esteemed literary awards. The first awarding took topographic point in 1932 by the Guggenheim Fellowship. while the second was offered in 1934. and is known as O. Henry Award. This lady was born and brought up in Kentucky. Todd County. Having received her high degree instruction from her father’s Clarksville Classical School in Montgomery. Tennessee. she subsequently graduated in Bethany College in west Virginia. a position that subsequently allowed her to work as a society intelligence author with the Chattanooga Reporter Newspaper. Caroline Gordon got married to Allen Tate. though the matrimony ended up in a divorce. The divorce was still marked with frequent and friendly correspondence between the two. It is during this matrimony that Caroline Gordon converted to Catholicism. It is during this period that Caroline Gordon wrote until she got crippled by a shot that hit her on March 1st 1981 in San Cristobal. Mexico. a topographic point in which she lived during her ulterior old ages. At 85. she passed on two hebdomads subsequently after the subsequent surgical intercession. The authors positions as a Catholic The writer’s positions as a Catholic have non been overtly spelled out. given the fact that the author takes a household that is undergoing day-to-day battles and life’s experiences to convey out the really underpinnings that life portends. This means that there is no manner the author in this book gets to air out her positions that may be kindred to religion. As a affair of fact. it is the normal societal facet of the household that is given the Centre phase in the scene. Therefore. to a layperson or one reading without paying attentiveness to spiritual or religions affairs. the book can easy be dismissed as a strictly secular discourse. However. there is clarity in stating that the book has spiritual undertones. given the fact that it contains hints of religionism. The household that gets to be the mouthpiece of the author is presented as a spiritually minded one. and a Christian 1 for this affair. Traces of these include: the expression of the grace before repasts ; and the observation of the Christian festivals and jubilations such as the Christmas and the Easter. Otherwise. apart from these hintings. there is nil else that is given by the author by which it can be known. the writer’s sentiment towards Catholicism and/ or Christian religion can be constructed. It can be said that the author airs her positions on Catholicism or as a Catholic. if it is to be justly assumed that the author intended for the household to be a Catholic one. and as such. an ideal one. by the virtuousness that it patterns the really deeds that are attendant to the philosophies and tenet of the Catholic church. The ends of the author Similarly. this means that the ends of the author every bit far as faith is concerned. are non explicitly spelled out. On the contrary. the beliefs that the author wants to convey are carried out throughout the essay by Mr. Maury’s household and kinsmen. Therefore. this means that the ideals and sacraments of faith ( or Catholicism ) are clearly fulfilled in household life. Through the portraiture of Mr. Maury’s household life. the subjects of human life ( an of import aspect of Christian or and Catholic anthropology ) are clearly divulged upon. For case. it is through Mr. Maury’s household dealingss with its members that subjects such as success. difficult work. love for one another. bias. aging. dotage. among others are brought to the bow. Carilus ( 2005 ) postulates that since. â€Å"the overall message of Christianity ( of which the Catholic Church is mainstream ) is love. the household can be said to be normal or average† ( 90 ) . While it shows a batch of love and understanding for its household members ( Mr. Maury ) . yet it portrays some incompatibility. courtesy of the fact that it exhibits racial bias against the black race. This is clearly seen by the fact that it refers to this race by utilizing a derogatory word. â€Å"Ni**a† . However. more incompatibility on the side of the writer is besides evidenced by the author. given the fact that she portrays the household as an ideal one. one that allows a black retainer to dine with it on one manus. while on the other manus. the household at times is seen to utilize acerb linguistic communication on the same race it welcomes at the tabular array. The meeting of the subjects From the reading experience. I can non state that the subjects have been clearly met. and particularly if the subject were meant to convey the particulars of Catholicism. This is because. the really patterns that are observed by Mr. Maury’s household cut across all faiths and Christian denominations. As a affair of fact. constructs such as familial love pervade faith such it is about natural to love members of the household. Therefore. there can be no stating that the author is successful in portraying an ideal household in the eyes of the Catholic tradition. Literary devices and subjects that have been used in the essay There are assorted devices and literary accomplishments that have been put to utilize by Caroline Gordon as the writer of the book. Dominant among this is the usage of direct looks or direct address. A direct address that betrays the racial bias in this household is â€Å"†¦You can larn something from these niggers†¦ you merely need to cognize how to manage them well† . This literary device tallies along the full plot line and is usually used by all literary artistes because it usually has an consequence of lighten uping the full narrative. At the same clip. it is through the usage of direct address that the author gets the ability to uncover the attitudes and sensitivities of all the characters presented in the book. The other literary device that Caroline Gordon as the literary artiste uses is flashback. It is through flashback that readers get to larn that Mr. Maury developed complications in his leg when coming from a hunting fling. At the same clip. it is through these flashbacks that it is possible to larn that Maury was in his hey yearss a university professor. and that Mr. Maury was non merely a lover of runing. a effort that he carried out during his leisure clip. but that he was a good huntsman himself as good. All these literary devices are usually used so as to maintain the reader on class with the subject in the plot line ( Weatherford 199 ) . Conflicts between religious and artistic ends There are serious struggles that exist in this Caroline Gordon’s work. These disparities stem and stand on the footing that the author writes with her will flex towards run intoing religious subjects or subjects that are kindred to Catholicism and its instruction in one terminal. In the other terminal. the artiste intends to portray in an expressed mode. the very underpinnings of life. However. given the fact that faith and positive spiritualty has its demands and claims to norms and criterions for the disciples every bit far as lifestyle and address is concerned. it is expected that any author who pledges commitment to spiritualty or a certain faith. maintain up to the criterions and to adhere by the tenet thereof. These struggles are best depicted by the fact that Caroline Gordon desires intensely to uncover the really crisp stabs of the divide and the bias that exists between or / among races. To this consequence. it behooves Caroline Gordon as a Christian and a Catholic for this affair. to utilize strong words such as â€Å"Ni**a† . These words are non merely considered as transporting racial undertones against the black race. but at the same clip. the words are graded as curses and as such. are classified with the â€Å"F† and â€Å"B† words as profanities. A expression at any conventional or standardised lexicons refer to the above phrases as derogatory and tabu words. yet Caroline Gordon uses the â€Å"N† word. Leenhouts ( 2001 ) says that â€Å"although others may wax polemical. stating that Caroline Gordon’s employment of this word is innocently or immorally motivated by the purpose of painting the existent and clear image. yet. critics remain clear of the affair stating that even the Bible. the Holy Book that Christians and Catholics uphold as God’s inspired word anathematizes the dabbling with these words† ( 121 ) . To this consequence. Christians are expected to hold address that is seasoned and graceful. Based on the above affair of linguistic communication art. and decency. the work of Caroline Fergusson Gordon has been found by many as violative on two counts. The first count is that the work is easy passed on by the black race as racialist sentiments. This state of affairs is festered by the fact that Caroline Gordon herself is of the white race. Even the likeability of there being a possibility of Caroline Gordon utilizing the â€Å"N† word immorally to vividly paint racism is brushed off by the black race as a instance of utilizing the cloak of poetic licence to cover maliciousness. On the 2nd count. there are readers who have the leaning to go through on the book as being coarse in linguistic communication on evidences of Christianity ( or Catholicism ) or spiritualty. This because words that are counted as curses are ever associated as debased. immoral and indecent. The opposite consequence on a reader There are bound to be opposite effects on the readers or the general potency readers as a recoil towards the linguistic communication as an artistic device that is put in employment by Caroline Gordon. This recoil is foremost pegged on the fact that there is ever a strong filial inherent aptitude that exists among people of the same race. It is based on this that a racialist slur directed towards a mere person can direct the whole race in the full Earth protesting. The black race is hence likely to eschew the book and to reprobate it as being racially bellicose. Personally. I do non like reading books that contain indecorous and racially polarized undertones. Conversely. it offends as a Christian that a fellow Christian or a Catholic for this affair can utilize derogative words against a fellow brother for whatever ground. This puts off. given the fact that the Earth in its entireness is working towards planetary coherence and integrity. Soon. books such as these have no topographic point in the rational universe. given the fact that they are denied the chances of being school set books. based on the extremely dissentious subject of racism. As a reader who has carried out extended research and group treatment on the book. it is non surprising that I have encountered a figure of people who have given their sentiments against the book. on counts of the derogative term. Although the writer. Caroline Gordon might hold harbored baronial purposes. yet. the usage of the word has evidently put a negative consequence on the readers. and particularly readers who are socially witting. However. it is of import to observe that there are those who acclaim the book as positively stark in nature across all the racial divides. This group posits that it is because of the extremist usage of words that the society is slapped in the face into a province of world that surrounds it. Decision That Caroline Gordon’s work is a work piece that the full universe of literature can showcase is a fact that can non be repudiated. This is more so because beneath the normal defects that shroud the book. the writer. Caroline Gordon shows a batch of accomplishments by demoing the ability to utilize a individual household to reflect on the affairs that underlie human life and religious or Christian or Catholic subjects. Plants cited Carilus. Joseph. Literary unfavorable judgment: A comprehensive usher. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005. Leenhouts. Anna. History and literature. New York: Prentice Hall. 2002. Weatherford. Doris. American adult females in literature. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 200