Phineas Gage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Phineas Gage - Research Paper Example Human beings can speak and learn every day and learn new daily activities. Human being also solves problems and makes decisions based on their judgment (Fleischman, 2004). There are different types of cognitive functions. Memory and learning are examples of cognitive functions of the brain. Problem solving, perception and movement of various body parts are examples of cognitive functions. Learning of new activities and words, reading and speaking often get coordinated by the brain. These functions differentiate the human beings from other species. Theses cognitive functions originate from the cerebrum part of the brain. The cerebrum comprises of the temporal lobes, frontal lobes, occipital lobes and the parietal lobes. These areas of the cerebrum have different functions (Macmillian, 2002). The Phineas Gage accident clearly explained the functions of the brain in the cognitive functioning. Gage got the brain injuries while he was excavating rocks that he would later use for construct ing railway tracks. The rail roads injured Gage with some of his workmate during construction of the rail roads. Gage got severe brain damage. He got treated, but later became left with a permanent brain damage. The accident affected his brain thus affecting all his daily activities. Doctors that treated Gage noticed that he behaved different after the accident. This led to the doctors examining Gage’s skull to find out what was wrong that Gage was responding differently after treatment following the accident (Linden, 2007). This accident helped to explain the importance of the brain in cognitive functions. After the accident, Gage personality changed. He started acting differently from his earlier actions. Gage lost his personality. The doctors examined the brain and found out that the left frontal lobe of the cerebrum coordinates the personality development. This showed that Gage left frontal part of his cerebrum got damaged. This affected his personality development, hence the reason why there was a loose in his personality. The doctors examined the lesion in the brain and made a conclusion that, the left frontal part of the brain controlled the personality of human beings. So, Gage left frontal part of his cerebrum got damaged explaining why he lost his personality (Linden, 2007). Gage could not make rational decisions and his emotions were unstable. After the accident, doctors treated Gage, but he did not fully recover from the treatment. The doctors discovered how Gage decisions and emotions got affected. This encouraged the doctors to examine the human brain and find out what affected his decision making and his emotions. The doctors found out that the right plus the left prefrontal cortices of the brain remained damaged. This showed that the cortices were responsible for the functioning of human emotions and decision making (Fleischman, 2004). The doctors examined the left and right prefrontal cortices and came up with a conclusion that they wer e responsible for the coordination of emotions and decision making in human beings. The study revealed how the human brain works. Different parts of the brain often get associated with its cognitive functioning. One of the cognitive functions of the brain is to coordinate the emotions and decision making the human being. The study of the brain by the doctors enabled the doctors understand the functioning of the brain. This brain study led to understanding the functioning of

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

History - Essay Example The movement received wide level of recognition and support among the urban youths and the marginalised urban poor. In the same way, supporters of the movement included diverse grassroots organizations from the rural areas and provincial cities, peasant organizations, civic, political and economic networks, and professional cadres. The proponents of the movement also aimed at dismantling dictatorship and building â€Å"a democratic state that prioritised the demands of the excluded and exploited majority and their full participation in deciding the agenda of their communities and of the nation† (Dupuy 91). A critical evaluation of the movement convinces one that the legacy of Haiti’s revolution has had great influence on the objectives, as well as outcome, of the Lavalas movement and this calls for the need to unearth the influences of Haitian revolution on the Lavalas movement. The Haitian Revolution has often been regarded as the most successful rebellion initiated by the slaves in 1791that culminated in the abolition of slavery and French domination. In fact, the revolutionaries were influenced by the French revolution itself and fought for equality, fraternity and liberty. Even though, the Haiti revolution was proved to be successful, poverty, were political and economic instability haunted the nation.

Structural approaches to systems of signification are rooted in linguistic theory Essay Example for Free

Structural approaches to systems of signification are rooted in linguistic theory Essay A general analysis of language assists in the deconstruction of meaning as it inscribes in different types of narratives (whether verbal or non-verbal). This analysis can be divided into 4 processes. The first process is the identification of sign systems used in particular social situations. The second process is the determination of body movements, sounds, or letters that individuals use to express the sign system. For example, when an individual refer to the term ‘funeral’, then all individuals in a particular social group must know the proper reference to a funeral. The fourth process is called social convention. Every individual in a community or group must agree on a common set of meanings for the sign system. The fifth process is the rate by which signs changes meaning. This phenomenon is common in Western societies where words and symbols often change as a response to social, economic, and political changes. One of the leading figures of semiotics is Roland Barthes who applied the structuralist linguist theory of Saussure to the study of mythology. His research paved the way for the development of a ‘contemporary mythology. ’ The findings were as follows: 1) The elements involved in narratives are often objects which assume meaning that transcends beyond their aesthetic and normative value. The development of this set of meanings is often expressed in the so-called ‘second level language’; 2) Barthes also identified the so-called ‘second order semiological system’, a sign system which enables people to communicate with each other; 3) An object assumes meaning when society attaches a particular value to a place, object, and entities. However, the significance of an object, idea or place may also be ambiguous and may assume a set of meanings that may be hard to deconstruct. The ability to deconstruct meaning depends on a number of factors: 1) the complexity of the social situation, 2) the relationships of the actors involved, 3) the complexity of the general sign system used, 4) the range of possibilities, and 5) the biases of the researcher. Deconstructing meaning is a process by which an individual attempts to relate one set of meaning to another in a particular situation; that is, the repercussions of motives and intentions are always embedded in behavioral orientation. 2) Language is a system of distinct signs which correspond to distinct ideas (Saussure 1966:16). Please explain the nature of sign according to Saussure’s theory of language. With the publication of the Course of General Linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure established a formal theory of language. Some of the assumptions of his theory were as follows: 1) There is a distinction between language and parole (speech). According to Saussure, language is the system of symbols in which individuals communicate. Parole refers to actual utterances. Since individuals communicate in an infinite number of utterances, it is the symbolic system which is deemed more important. In providing distinction between uttering and language, one is also separating: a) what is social from what is individualistic, and b) what is essential from what is supplemental. Saussure likened this proposition to a chess game. The chess game has rules which define the overall essence of the game. Utterances are the actual moves of the players. The rules reflect the language used in the game; 2) Languages do not produce different versions of reality; they in fact produce different realities. According to Saussure, the differences in language reflect the general differences not only in the interpretation of what is real but also the notion of what ought to be real. In short, if a language does not have a word for ‘natural’ then individuals who use such language will in effect submerged in a world which is unnatural. Here, the term ‘natural’ is both ambiguous and vague because individuals have no common assumptions of what is ‘natural’; 3) Language is the means by which social meanings is communicated through the use of signs. A sign or a word defines the relationship between the assumed image of a set of sounds or signifiers and the actual image in an individual or group’s consciousness. A sign is a mediator between the assumed and the actual, between the real and the immaterial. According to Saussure, signs define the conceptual outlook of particular objects, entities, and even other ideas (Wittgenstein called this as referent idea). For example, the word ‘family’ describes both the ideal notion of a ‘family’ and the actual image of a family (reality). In short, a sign define the ideal and realistic boundary of specific ideas, objects, and entities. The bond, however, between the signifier and the signified is both arbitrary and necessary. The principle of arbitrariness is predominant when all ideas about the boundary of language are assumed to be in unity. Here, language is assumed to be a matter of social convention; that is, a general creation of collective consciousness. Hence, the set of signifiers (signs) becomes a means to describe and define the image of an object, idea, or entity. Signs become, as what philosophers of language called, an ‘arbitrary assumption of events’ – events which are either singular or plural in orientation. Signs therefore are subject to social change – as actors periodically change the meaning and application of signs in a sign system. In some cases, the change is radical that the original symbolic meanings are radically altered. Here, the signs remained intact, but the associated meaning greatly changed. This radical change is though not separated from changes that occur in a larger social environment, for it is the social environment which is the initial source of change. Saussure defined language as both a ‘social phenomenon’ and a ‘psychological phenomenon. ’ It is a social phenomenon because the significance of signs is dependent on social context or milieu. Social context here refers to a state of perpetual change in language over time. In fact, Saussure argued that all languages are equal in complexity. This assumption may be ambitious, but it has not without basis. Languages change because the social contexts to which they are located also change. A good example of language change is the creation of new words in many of the leading world’s languages. This process of language ramification is perhaps due to the rapidly increasing communication among individuals, groups, and institutions. However, much of the newly created words are ambiguous and vague in form. Many individuals either attach multiple meanings to a word or simply fail to attach a clear cut meaning to such word. 3) Debord states: ` an earlier stage in the economy’s domination of social life entailed an obvious downgrading of being into having that left its stamp on all human behaviour. The present stage, which social life is completely taken over by the accumulated products of the economy, entails a generalised shift from having to appearing: all effective `having` must now derive both its immediate prestige and its ultimate raison dentre from appearances` (Debord 1994:16). Explain in your own words Debord’s analysis of the society of the spectacle. Much of Debord’s ideas of the society of the spectacle were derived from Marxian theory. According to Marxian theory: 1) Society is divided into two structures: the superstructure and the substructure. The superstructure is the set of institutions functioning in the society. The substructure is the economic system utilized by the society. There is a dialectic relationship between these two structures. Initially, the substructure influences the creation of the superstructure. The economic system determines the type of institutions that will be developed in the society. The superstructure then either reinforces or alters the substructure, depending on the needs of the society; 2) The behavior of human wants is always conspicuous. Every individual desires not only the basic needs of life but also the ideal notion of fruitful living. Here, Marxian theory suggests that human want is both arbitrary and unlimited. Individuals will strive to attain what is socially acceptable and what is necessary. Consumption is a means to ‘show’ that these ends are met (echoes Veblen’s idea on conspicuous consumption). Individuals therefore, disregarding the efficacy of moderation, engages in subtle confrontation with the sources of frustration. The end: the individual becomes more and more attuned to the affairs of the market, and subject to the whims of the ruling class – whom unconsciously is fueling individual frustration to obtain higher market value for their products. Debord expounded on the development of a modern society in which genuine social life has been displaced with its representation – that is, its image. Debord argues that the history and essence of social life can be understood as the ‘decline of being into having, and having into merely appearing. ’ Debord notes that this condition of human life is the event in which commodity completely colonized the virtue of social life – an unconscious process of colonization of the ideal notion of life. The term ‘spectacle’ connotes a social system characterized by the affluence of advance capitalism, the mass media, and capitalist led governments. The spectacle is the general opposite image of society in which the relationship between commodities have, in general, displaced the relationships between people. The worship of the commodity becomes not just a rule but the aspiration of social life. In the society of the spectacle, the quality of life is poor, human perceptions greatly altered by both the market and mass media, and a general degradation of genuine knowledge. Knowledge becomes a tool for distorting reality – obstructing the true essence of the past, and promising a bright future of mass consumption and happiness. Here, individuals becomes attune to the calls of the promise and prevent themselves from realizing that such ‘spectacle’ is only illusory – that the society of spectacle is only a moment in history which can be overturned by collective action. The responsibility therefore of the ‘drugged’ individual is to free himself from the chains of spectacular images through radical action. This radical action will restore the beauty and essence of social life – life defined not by the relations between commodities but by the relations between individuals. 4) Basing yourself on first Levi-Strauss and then Barthess analyses, describe how myths function as types of narratives that carry a message. Levi-Strauss applied the structural linguistics of Saussure to the analysis of family. Traditionally, the family is seen as the fundamental object of analysis and as a self-contained unit consisting typically of a husband, wife, and children (offspring). Levi-Strauss argued that families only acquire determinate identities through relations among units. Levi-Strauss fundamentally altered the classical view of anthropology, putting the secondary family members first and analyzing the relationships among units instead of the units themselves. Levi-Strauss’ application of structural linguistics is also evident in his work Mythologiques, a series of work on myths and legends. According to Levi-Strauss, myths are a type of speech in which a symbolic system could be discovered. This theory attempted to explain the similarities of myths across cultures. Levi-Strauss argued that there is no such thing as ‘singular authentic version of a myth’ rather a general manifestation of the same language. In order to understand this language, the fundamental units of myth, the mytheme, must be examined. To find the mythemes, Levi-Strauss deconstructed each version of a myth into a set of sentences, consisting generally of a relation between a function and a subject. Sentences with the same function and subject were given the same number. Both Levi-Strauss and Barthess analysis of myths revealed striking results. First, the coagulation of myths is a message of a common language. Second, the myth itself not only expressed social, economic, and political values, but also the means in which people throughout the ages communicate. Third, binary opposition is a common characteristic of language – that is, people communicate through binary opposites. And lastly, myths function as a kind of lingual illusion which drives individual to act on the basis of the myth itself (the myth is a self-sufficient source of action). Here, the degree of which an individual communicates the myth to another individual is related to the preponderance of a myth. Hence, the survival of a myth depends on the way and degree to which it is communicated.

Business Cycle Synchronization in Latin America

Business Cycle Synchronization in Latin America Business cycles synchronization in Latin America:  A TVTPMS Approach Introduction: Over the last decades, there has been a growing interest in the business cycle transmissions among countries and interdependencies. The design of regional co-operations and integrations, such as Mercosur or Latin America countries, has the purpose to reduce poverty, amplify society welfare and enhance macroeconomic stability. However, it is crucial to understand the influence of regional integration and the role of external factors on regional business cycle synchronization. Fiess (†¦..) find that a relatively low degree of business cycle synchronization within Central America as well as between Central America and the United States. Grigoli (2009) analyzed the causation relations among business activities of the Mercosur countries to determine which cycles are dependent on others, considering trade intensity, trade structure and the influences of the EU and US as well. He find some causation relations among the South-American countries; however, the EU and US do not play a relevant role in determining the fluctuations of their cycles. Gutierrez and Gomes (†¦..) use the Beveridge-Nelson-Stock-Watson multivariate trend-cycle decomposition model to estimate a common trend and common cycle. Aiolfi et al. (2010) identify a sizeable common component in the LA countries’ business cycles, suggesting the existence of a regional cycle Caporale and Girardi (2012) show that the LA region as a whole is largely dependent on external developments and the trade channel appears to be the most important source of business cycle co-movement. They report that the business cycle of the individual LA countries appears to be influenced by country-specific, regional and external shocks in a very heterogenous way. In order to investigate the degree of synchronization of the business cycles among the six major LA economies[1] (namely, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela) as a whole, we consider the presence of a regional cycle by estimating the common growth cycle with the aim of testing its effect on each country-specific cycle. Besides this introduction, this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 contains the model and describes the data. Section 3 presents the empirical results and finally, section 4 concludes. Data and Methodology : We use quarterly data of the real GDP growth rate of the LAC countries, extracted from Penn World Table , namely †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦, covering the period from the first quarter of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ to the last quarter of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. We focus on whether the economic activity in the LAC countries is driven by a joint business cycle. We first look at the engine of growth lies within the LA countries. We therefore firstly begin by studying the existence of a common cycle among the economies studied. Second, we attempt to find the influence of a common factor referred to as the LAC’s business cycle extracted from the estimation of a dynamic common factor model. We employ a measure of business cycles synchronization based on Hamilton’s (1989) original Markov-switching model and the time– varying Markov–switching model developed by Filardo (1994) and reconsidered recently by Kim et al. (2008) to investigate the regional common factor in dating the regional business cycles. This study analyzes whether the synchronization pattern of business cycles in a country has systematically changed with the expansion or recession phases of regional business cycle. In this context, we assumed business cycles in a particular country are driven by regional cycles proxied by the common dynamic factor in real GDP growth of the LA countries, thus we use a dynamic factor model to extract the regional cycle. The main interest of the analysis is that a latent dynamic factor drives the co-movement of a high-dimensional vector of time-series variables which is also affected by a vector of mean-zero idiosyncratic disturbances, ÃŽ µt (Stock, 2010) . The common factors are assumed to follow a first-order autoregressive process. This linear state-space model can be written as follows: (1) (2) where L1,t,†¦,Lk,t are common to all the series, ÃŽ µ and ÃŽ · are independent Gaussian white noise terms. The L matrix of factor loadings measures the instantaneous impact of the common factors on each series. There are two growth phases or regimes with a transition between them governed by a time-varying transition probability matrix. The advantage of such a model is that the regimes can be easily interpreted as regimes of recession and expansion. The estimated equation is the following[2]: , (3) where and The endogenous variable, yt (the real growth rate in a given country at time t) is assumed to visit the two states of a hidden variable, st, that follows a first-order Markov chain, over the T observations[3]. ÃŽ ¼st, ÏÆ', à Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ are real coefficients to be estimated. Denoting zt the leading variable (the regional common factor at time t), we want to know whether zt causes yt+k, k= 1,2, †¦.Under the assumption that both y and z have ergodic distributions, we define the following transition probability functions: (4) where and are elements of the following transition probability matrix: (5) with Pij the probability of switching from regime j at time t − 1 to regime i at time t and i, j =1, 2 with for all i,j∈{1,2. k is a lag. In order to estimate the coefficients of equation (1), we need to maximize the log-likelihood of the unconditional density function of yt: (6) The unconditional density function is the product of the conditional density function and the unconditional probability of st. This is written as[4]: (7) Transition probabilities indicate that the states of expansion and recession are equally persistent, and this persistency is very strong. These probabilities aim to provide information about the likelihood of staying or switching from a given regime of k periods after a regime change in z. If the estimate of ÃŽ ¼1 is positive and ÃŽ ¼2 is negative, then regime 1 can be interpreted as one of expansion and regime 2 as one of contraction. Furthermore, assume that in eq. (†¦) ÃŽ ³1,2 is positive. This indicates that while any increase in leading indicator (z) increases P11, probability that y stays in regime 1, any decrease in z increases 1-P11, probability that y switches from regime 1 k periods later; that is, an expansion (recession) in z leads to an expansion (recession) in another country. Similarly, a negative ÃŽ ³1,2 means that an expansion in z leads to a recession in another country. Additionally, a negative ÃŽ ³2,2 means that any decrease (increase) in leading indicator in creases the probability of staying in regime 2 (switching from regime 2). If both ÃŽ ³1,2 and ÃŽ ³2,2 are insignificant, this would mean that there is no statistically meaningful impact of the occurrence of expansions or recessions in a leading market on the growth regime of the other markets[5]. Empirical Results Fig. 1 refers to the common factor, i.e. the regional growth cycle of the Latin America countries. As we can see, the common factor easily captures the well-known common features of the LA business cycle such as the 1994–95 Mexican crisis and the Tequila crisis. To test the hypothesis of a joint business cycle in the LA, we estimate the TVTPMS model given by Eqs. (1) and (2) with the variable z referring to the common factor (regional cycle). Fig. 1. Common factor in real GDP growth of the Latin America countries The estimation results for the regional cycle as leading variable are reported in Table 1. We find significantly positive ÃŽ ¼1 and negative ÃŽ ¼2 which correspond to a situation of distinct expansion and contraction regimes. Our main findings are based on the significance of the estimated coefficients ÃŽ ³1,2 and ÃŽ ³2,2. When looking at the significance of the coefficient ÃŽ ³1,2 , it is found that the common factor exerts direct effects on Mexico and Venezuela, implying that a high growth rate in regional cycle is informative of GDP expansion phases in these countries. That is, an expansion in common factor increases the probability that Mexico and Venezuela will continue to evolve in an expansion regime (i.e. P11). However, we see that ÃŽ ³2,2 is never significant for these countries. This suggests that the regional cycle can never be considered as a leading indicator of the future state of the cycle in Mexico and Venezuela when they are already in the contraction regime (i.e. P2 2 and P1-22). Conversely, our results show that regional cycle is sensitive to economic fluctuations in Colombia, Chile and Brazil because ÃŽ ³2,2 is significant, thereby implying that any change in regional factor does help predict whether these economies will stay into or escape from contractions. Table 1 Estimation results for the regional cycle as leading variable. The numbers in bold indicate that a high growth rate in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, and the Brail has an impact on the expansion and recession phases of the regional cycle. The evidence presented here indicates that Latin America countries’ increasing economic interdependence has strengthened both interregional business cycles synchronization. A regional cycle could provide significant informational content in predicting the future state of Mexico and Venezuela only when they are already into the expansionary state and the future state of Colombia, Chile and Mexico when they are already in the contraction regime. That is, the high level of integration reached within the region has enabled Mexico and Venezuela to emerge as a pole of economic growth where their business cycles are mutually reinforced during expansions. In other words, while this increasing economic interdependence tends to strengthen output co-movements when these countries are already in the expansionary state, the shift from contractions to recovery, opposed to Colombia, Chile and Mexico, do not depend on the recovery in other countries. For Argentina, both ÃŽ ³1,2 and ÃŽ ³2,2 is insignificant, implying any change in the regional cycle regional cycle is not sensitive to economic fluctuations in this country. Conclusion The papers other main finding is that a regional cycle could provide significant informational content in predicting the future state of the five of the largest Latin American economies—Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and Mexico. However, the amplitude and duration of the business cycle are asymmetric, indicating that nonlinearities are important in the growth process. Thus, since the Latin America countries’ business cycles are well-tied together through a regional cycle, the costs of joining a monetary union would be reduced if a deeper regional economic cooperation, including intra-exchange rate stability and macroeconomic policy coordination, before turning on to a full-fledged monetary union. Since the Latin American economies have historically been highly dependent globalization process and demand from outside trading partners it would be interesting repeating a similar exercise with interest rates and cyclical output in advanced countries. References Hamilton, J.D., 1989. A new approach to the economic analysis of nonstationary time  series and the business cycle. Econometrica 57, 357–384. Filardo, A.J., 1994. Business cycle phases and their transitional dynamics. J. Bus. Econ. Stat.  12, 299–308. [1] These countries have accounted for some 70 percent of the region’s GDP over the past half century (Maddison, 2003, pp. 134–140) [2] The lag structure has been tested with standard AIC, HQ and SC criteria. [3] The occurrence of a regime is referred by a variable st that takes two values: 1 if the observed regime is 1 and 2 if it is regime 2 [4] The lags in the model are chosen using the Akaike information criterion. Moreover, we perform the Ljung–Box (LB) test to check that there is no residual autocorrelation [5] In this case, The TVPMS model converges to the Hamilton fixed probability model

Product Testing: Toxic And Tragic :: essays research papers

Product Testing: Toxic and Tragic by the PETA Organization This is an article written by one of the most passionate and reliable sources of animal rights, called PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals). I do not want to dumb down the information in this article, but I will try not to drone on. This article speaks of how people test cosmetics on animals, the ethics of it and alternatives to product testing on animals. First, there are test called â€Å"Eye Irritancy Tests†. These tests find out whether products used for or near the eyes will hurt one’s eyes. These animals, usually rabbits, are first locked into these headlocks where their heads protrude out and their bodies behind. Then, without using any form of anesthesia, the product, whether it be liquid or powder, is literally dropped in these rabbit’s eyes. They hold open the eyes of the rabbit with some sort of hook. Then they record the results of these tests such as: inflammation, bleeding and deterioration. The rabbits often break their necks trying to get free from these locks. Next their is an â€Å"Acute Toxicity Test†, performed on a group of test animals ranging in size. Usually what they will do is force a tube into the animal’s stomachs or cut a hole into their throats. Then they will force a substance in through those ways. Other options are that they could inject the fluid through the skin or a vein. These tests are to see how these fluids would effect humans. The scientists look for results like: bleeding, diaherra, convulsions and skin eruptions. There is also another test linked to this one called the â€Å"Lethal Dose Test†. These tests are unreliable. The article then tells of how these methods are legal, but very lethal for animals. In this section such controversies like how â€Å"the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires only that each ingredient in a cosmetics product be "adequately substantiated for safety" prior to marketing or that the product carry a warning label indicating that its safety has not been determined.† Which means these test results do not guarantee our safety. Testing on animals could be completely bogus for are we know. There are alternatives to animal testing. For seven years, the cruelty-free company petitioned the American Dental Association gave a seal of approval to Tom's of Maine toothpaste’s. Toothpaste companies (like Proctor and Gamble) were performing lethal tests on rats in order to be eligible for the ADA seal. The scientists would brush rat’s teeth for more than a month, then kill the animals and examine their teeth under a microscope.

The Great Depression Essay -- Economics Finance History Economy Essays

The Great Depression The Great Depression was an economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. There were a few main areas of focus during the Great Depression. The key areas were the Crash of the Stock Market, Unemployment Rate, the effect on the rest of the world, World War II and our political out look and the way different countries handle themselves today. The Great Depression was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. Though the U.S. economy had gone into depression six months earlier, the Great Depression may be said to have begun with a catastrophic collapse of stock-market prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929, when President Hoover came in office. During the next three years stock prices in the United States continued to fall, until by late 1932 they had dropped to only about 20 percent of their value in 1929 (www.english.uiuc.edu). Some of the stock figures I received from (www.huppi.com) indicate the changes of the Gross National Product from 1930 until 1939. The Gross National Product, or GNP, for 1930 had a negative change of 9.4 percent. In 1931, the GNP continued to decline another 8.5 percent. In 1932 it dropped another 13.4 percent and continued to drop 2.1 percent in 1933. In 1934 the GNP made a turn for the better and started to increase by 7.7 percent and continued to rise in 1935 with an increase of 8.1 percent. During 1936 and 1937 the GNP rose for a combined amoun t of 19.1 percent but do to the beginning of recession in 1938 it had a drop of 4.5 percent. Once Recession ended the GNP went up 7.9 percent in 1939. (Www.english.uiuc.edu) tells us that besides ruining many thousands of individual investors, this precipitous decline in the value of assets greatly strained banks and other financial institutions, particularly those holding stocks in their portfolios. Many banks were consequently forced into insolvency; by 1933, 11,000 of the United States' 25,000 banks had failed. The failure of so many banks, combined with a general and nationwide loss of confidence in the economy, led to much-reduced levels of spending and demand and hence of production, thus aggravating the downward spiral. â€Å"The result was drastically falling output and drastically rising unemployment; ... ...its were contracting it; The Fed's inaction was the reason why the initial recession turned into a prolonged depression; The economy continually sank throughout Hoover's entire term. Under Roosevelt's New Deal, it rose five out of seven years. Attempts to blame Big Government for the Depression do not withstand serious scrutiny; The Smoot-Hawley Tariff had a minor impact because trade formed only 6 percent of the U.S. economy, and reducing trade gave Americans only that much more money to spend domestically. Hoover's other attempts at government intervention came mostly during his last year in office, when the Depression was already at its depth; The first nations to come out of the Great Depression were Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, and then everyone else did so after they adopted the Keynesian solution of heavy deficit government spending and the Keynesian economic policies have eliminated the depression from the world's economies in the six decades that have followed. Works Cited WWW.huppi.com WWW.english.uiuc.edu Nelson Cary Kennedy, David Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War Oxford, New York 1999 Oxford University Press   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Misrepresentation in Law

CHAPTER EIGHT MISREPRESENTATION A misrepresentation is an untrue statement, which induces the other party to enter into the contract. A misrepresentation may be fraudulent, negligent misstatement, or wholly innocent. The applicable remedy depends on the nature of the misrepresentation. In order for a representation to amount to an actionable misrepresentation it must be: a)false; b)one of fact as oppose to intention, opinion, or law; c)The statement must be addressed to the party who claims to have been misled; )it must be the chief reason which induced the other party to enter the contract. If the representation that is being challenged satisfies these four requirements, then it is an actionable representation. Statement of Fact or Opinion A statement which is made to the other party that is false and induces him to enter into the contract, this is an actionable misrepresentation. The false statement must be one of fact and not of law because no one can misrepresent the law since ev eryone is presumed to know the law.A statement of opinion is not actionable per se as a misrepresentation because it is not a statement of fact. In Bisset v. Wilkinson, the respondent purchased from the appellant, two plots of land in New Zealand for the purpose of sheep farming. During the negotiations, the appellant told the respondent that, if the place was worked properly, it would carry two thousand sheep. The respondent, it was admitted, bought the place believing that it would carry two thousand sheep.As both parties were aware, the appellant had not and, so far as appeared, no other person had at anytime carried on sheep farming on the land. In an action for rescission for misrepresentation, Sim J. said: In ordinary circumstances, any statement made by any owner who has been occupying his own farm, as to its carrying capacity would be regarded as a statement of fact†¦. This, however, is not such a case †¦ in these circumstances. The plaintiff were not justified in regarding anything said by the defendant as to the carrying capacity as being anything more than an expression of opinion on the subject.Their Lordships concurred in their view on the matter, and therefore held that the purchaser had no right to rescind the contract since an erroneous opinion stated by the party affirming the contract, though it has been relied upon and has induced the contract on the part of the party who seeks rescission, gives no title to relief unless fraud is established. The ratio decindendi of this decision is that the respondent had no previous or present knowledge of the capacity of the land, neither was he an expert in sheep farmingSo in the opinion of the Court the most he could have averred was a mere opinion. However, in certain circumstances, an opinion because it presupposes the possession of certain knowledge, may be an actionable misrepresentation. In Smith v Land and House Property Corporation, the vendor of an hotelier described it as let to a Mr. Frederick Fleck, a most desirable tenant. The tenant was in fact in arrears with his rent. It was held that the statement was not a mere expression of opinion because the vendor was impliedly stating that he has facts, which justifies his opinion.The court deemed the vendor to have knowledge of particular facts; therefore the ‘opinion’ was regarded as a misrepresentation of fact, which induced the other party to enter into the contract. The decision in Bisset’s case was followed in Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd. v. Mardon. Esso’s experienced representative told Mardon that Esso estimated the through-put of petrol on a certain site would reach 200,000 gallons in the third year of operation, and so persuaded Mardon to enter into a tenancy agreement in April 1963 for three years.Mardon did all that could be expected of him as tenant but the site was not good enough to achieve a through-put of more than 10,000 gallons. In July 1964 Mardon gave notice to quit, but Es so granted him a new tenancy at a reduced rent. Mardon continued to lose money and by August 1966 was unable to pay for petrol supplied. Esso claimed possession of the site and the money due. Mardon claimed damages in respect of the representation alleging that it amounted to 1) a warranty, 2) a negligent misrepresentation. On the matter Lord Denning M. R. said that Council for Esso retaliated by citing Bisset v. Wilkinson where the Privy Council said that a statement by a New Zealand farmer that an acre of land† would carry 2000 sheep was only an expression of opinion. He submitted that the forecast here of 200,000 gallons was an expression of opinion and not a statement of fact, and that it could not be interpreted as a warranty or promise. Lord Denning said that he would quite agree with Counsel for Esso that it was not a warranty – in this sense that it did not guarantee that the through-put would be 200,000 gallons.But one party, Esso, has special knowledge and ski ll. It was the yardstick by which they measure the worth of a filling station. They knew the facts. They knew the traffic in the town, they knew the through-put of comparable stations. They had much experience and expertise at their disposal. His Lordship went on to show that Esso was in a much better position than Mr. Mardon and their statement of opinion presupposes that they have knowledge to support the opinion. This is very different to the circumstances in Bisset v.Wilkinson where the land had never been used as a sheep farm and both parties were equally able to form an opinion as to its carrying capacity. The Court, therefore, found that Esso was liable for damages for breach of warranty. Fact and Intention Where a representation merely expresses the intention of one party, under normal circumstances the intention, if it is not fulfilled, is not an actionable representation. However, in some circumstances an expression of intention may be considered a statement of fact. In Ed gington v.Fitzmaurice, Bowen LJ said: â€Å"There must be a misstatement of an existing fact: but the state of a man’s mind is as much a fact as the state of his digestion. † The facts in that case are: The directors of a company invited a loan from the Public and stated that the money would be used to improve the company’s building and to extend the business. The real intention of the directors was to use the money to pay off the company’s existing debts. Their statement of intention was held to be a statement of fact. Can Silence Amount to Misrepresentation?Generally silence is not misrepresentation. Each man must protect his own interest and exercise reasonable caution when entering a contract: Caveat emptor. However, the court may consider certain kinds of silence as misrepresentation. In With v O’Flanagon the defendant wanted to sell his medical practice. The negotiations began January 1 at which time the practice was worth ? 2000. 00 per year . However, the defendant fell ill and by May 1 when the contract of sale was signed, the practice was virtually worthless.It was held that the defendant’s silence in the situation amounted to a misrepresentation. Opportunity to Verify Representation Where the representee is given the opportunity to verify the representation made to him, he may or may not make use of the opportunity. If he chooses to act on the statements made by the representor and the statements turn out to be false he can sue but if he chooses to verify and confirm a statement, which is in fact false, he cannot sue the representor. In Redgrave v. Herd, a man was induced to buy a solicitor’s practice by a misstatement of its value.He was given the opportunity to inspect the books, but he did not. If he had checked the books, he would have found that the practice was over-valued. However, the Court held that the non-use of this opportunity did not vitiate his claim. The Privy Council in Senanayake v. C henq followed this decision. However, when the representee carries out independent investigation to ascertain the accuracy of any statement made to him, though he did not find out the truth, he cannot claim to have been misled because then he would be relying on his own findings or that of his experts.In Atwood v. Small, a vendor offered to sell a mine and made exaggerated claims as to its capacity. The buyer appointed agents to investigate the mines. The agents reported wrongly that the claims were true. The contract of sale was then completed. It was held by the House of Lords that, the buyer’s subsequent action must fail because they have not relied on the vendor’s statement, but on their own independent investigations. Curtis v. Chemical Cleaners misrepresentation. Types of MisrepresentationFraudulent Misrepresentation. Fraud was defined by Lord Herschel in Derry v. Peek as meaning that the representation made is a false representation: 1) Knowingly or 2) Without b elief in its truth or 3) Recklessly, careless whether it is true or false. Fraud must be strictly proven and the burden of proof is high: It requires evidence of actual dishonesty. Negligent Misrepresentation/misstatement. Liability in damages for negligent misrepresentation was created by the decision in Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd. v.Heller & Partner, if there is a special relationship and that the defendant was a skilled professional person acting in the course of his business upon whose advice it is reasonable for the plaintiff to rely. Section 2(1) of the Misrepresentation Ac, 1967, codified this principle. The defendant can escape liability on the section if he can show that he had reasonable grounds for the belief and that he held those beliefs up to the time the contract was made that the facts represented were true. The burden of proof is on the representor.See the judgment of Lord Denning in Esso Petroleum v. Mardon. Seeing that the S. 2 (1) supersedes the Hedley Byrne’s case, it is doubtful whether this additional head of damages would add anything to the existing rights under S. (1). Where a representation becomes a term of the contract, the plaintiff will sue for breach of a contractual term or breach of warranty, not for misrepresentation. Innocent Misrepresentation. Whittington v. Seale-Hayne Types of Remedies An actionable misrepresentation attracts the remedies of rescission and damages.Rescission, providing that none of the bars to rescission are applicable, cancels the contract and restores the parties to the status quo ante. When rescission fails the innocent party will be awarded damages which is a monetary compensation that will put him in the position he would have been in but for the misrepresentation of the representor with whom the innocent party had contracted. Rescission or Cancellation. The right to rescind is the right of a party to have the contract set aside and to be restored to his former position. The contract remains valid unless and until rescinded.Third parties may acquire interest under the contract if the innocent party does not act with promptitude, providing that the innocent party is a bona fide(honest) purchaser for valuable consideration. In Car & Universal Finance v Caldwell, the defendant sold his car on January 12, 1960, to Norris who took it away leaving a deposit of ? 10 and a cheque for ? 965. The cheque was dishonoured when the defendant presented it the following day. He immediately informed the police and the Automobile Association of the fraudulent transaction.Norris subsequently sold the car to a third party who sold it to the plaintiff. The question the Court had to decide was whether the defendant’s conduct and representations on or about January 13 amounted to a rescission of the contract of sale. Lord Denning M. R. held that where a seller of goods had a right to avoid a contract for fraud, he sufficiently exercised his election if, on discovering the fraud, he immediate ly took all possible steps to regain the goods, even though he could not find the purchaser or communicate with him, and the contract was rescinded on January 13.If the innocent party delayed cancelling the contract, any third party who purchased the item bona fide would have acquired a good title to the property and the original owner had no claim to it. See the speech of Lord Wilberforce in Johnson v. Agnew. There are several bars to the right to rescind which may work against the innocent party to the contract. The bars are restitution impossible, third-party rights, affirmation, lapse of time. These are discussed in the paragraphs that follow. Restitution Impossible.When a party rescinds a contract, it must be possible for the Court to restore the two parties to the Status quo ante, to put the parties back in their original position before the contract was made. However, this limitation should not be strictly construed, and the mere fact that the subject matter of the contract m ay have deteriorated before the truth is discovered, is not sufficient to prevent restoration and so destroy the right to rescind a contract. * In Newbigging v. Adam, rescission was granted even though the partnership business was worse than â€Å"worthless†.The facts of that case were â€Å"The plaintiff entered into an agreement with the defendants by which he was admitted as a partner with a manufacturing business and provided ? 10,000 of new capital. He was induced to enter into the agreement by a material innocent misrepresentation as to the capacity of certain machinery. The business failed, and the plaintiff sued for rescission of the agreement for recovery of his capital, and for an indemnity against all claims which might be made against him by virtue of his being a partner.The Court unanimously agreed that he was entitled to the remedy for which he asked. Before the passing of the 1967 Misrepresentation Act, there was a further bar of rescission: if the misrepresen tation was innocent, there could be no rescission of a contract after it has been executed. * Seddon v North East Salt Co. Ltd. The extent of this rule was somewhat uncertain and it was the subject of much discussion, for in many cases the falsity of the misrepresentation cannot be discovered until the contract is executed. However, the Privy Council in Senanayake v. Cheng did not follow the decision. By S. (2), except in the case of fraud, of the 1967 Misrepresentation Act, the Court has a discretion to allow rescission and to award damages in lieu of rescission, and in this way could allow the contract to continue to subsists whether it was executed or not. The act has over rule Seddon’s case, Wilde v. Gibson. * Third-party Rights. As stated above a third party may acquire a good title if the owner of the property did not act speedily to rescind the contract, providing that the third-party has no knowledge of the origin of the property and could not reasonably be expected t o: Car & Universal Finance v.Caldwell. A similar decision was made in Lewis v. Averay: The plaintiff advertised his car for sale. A rogue, posing as the well-known television actor, Richard Greene, called on the plaintiff and offered to buy the car. The plaintiff accepted the order, and the rogue wrote out a cheque, signed it, â€Å"R. A. Greene’. The rogue wished to take away the car at once, but the plaintiff was not willing for him to have it until the cheque had been cleared. At the plaintiff’s request the rogue produced identification that he was R.A Greene in the form of a special pass of admission to Pinewood Studios, bearing the name R. A. Greene’ and an address, a photograph of the rogue, and an official stamp. The plaintiff was satisfied on seeing this pass and allowed the rogue to have the car. The cheque was worthless and the rogue sold the car to the defendant, a music student, who bought is in good faith. The Court of Appeal held the plaintiff int ended to contract with the person before him. The contract was merely voidable for fraud and the defendant, a third party, acquired a good title in the car against the plaintiff.Affirmation of the Contract. If after becoming aware of the misrepresentation the party affirms the contract either by express words or by taking any benefit under the contract, e. g. accepting dividends on shares, or failure to remove his name from the register of shareholders. In Long v. Lloyd the plaintiff was induced to purchase a lorry by the defendant’s representation that it was â€Å"in excellent condition†. On the first journey after the sale, the dynamo broke and the plaintiff noticed several other serious defects.The defendant was informed of these and offered to pay half the cost for the repairs. On the next long journey, the lorry broke down completely and the plaintiff realised that it was in a deplorable condition. He claimed to rescind the contract. The Court held that the secon d journey amounted to an affirmation and therefore the right to rescind was lost. Lapse of Time Under certain circumstances, lapse of time may be deemed to be affirmation, especially if the other party takes a considerably long time to rescind the agreement.However, normally, time does not beginning to run until the plaintiff becomes aware of the misrepresentation. In Leaf v. International Galleries, the plaintiff bought from the defendant a painting of Salisbury Cathedral which the defendant innocently represented to him at the time of the purchase to have been painted by Constable. Five years later, when he tried to sell it, he discovered that was not the case. He brought an action for the rescission of the sale. The Court of appeal held that it was too late to rescind the contract.Damages The remedy of damages, availability or otherwise depends on the nature of the misrepresentation committed fraudulent, innocent, or negligent. In Newbigging v. Adam damages were award for misrepr esentation. In Whittington v. Seale-Hayne, the Court granted the plaintiff an indemnity against some of the lost which he suffered due to innocent misrepresentation. In Hussey v. Eels damages was assessed for negligent misstatement as to the non- existence of subsidence on the property which was the subject of the contract. ——————————————- [ 1 ]. [1927] AC 177 [ 2 ]. ibid at 180 [ 3 ]. (1884) 28 Ch D 7 at 15 [ 4 ]. supra at 191 [ 5 ]. [1976] QB 801 [ 6 ]. supra at 191 [ 7 ]. ibid [ 8 ]. (1885) 2 Ch. D 459 [ 9 ]. [1936] Ch. 575, [1936] 1 All ER 727; Davies v. London and Provincial Marine Insurance Co (1878) 8 Ch. D 469, judgment of Fry J. at 475 [ 10 ]. (1881) 20 Ch. D [ 11 ]. [1965] 3 All ER 296 [ 12 ]. (1838) 6 C L & Fin 232 [ 13 ]. (1889) 14 App. Cas 337 [ 14 ]. [1964] AC 465, [1963] 2 All ER 575, See Mutual Life Citizens Assurance Co v.Evatt [1971] Ac 793, [1971] 1 All ER 156 [ 15 ]. [1976] QB 807, [1986] 2 All ER 8 [ 16 ]. Supra 218 [ 17 ]. [1965] 1 QB 525, [1964] 1 All ER 290 [ 18 ]. [1986] AC 367, [1979] 1 All ER 883 [ 19 ]. (1886) 34 Ch D 582 [ 20 ]. [1905] 1 Ch 326 [ 22 ]. Supra 197 [ 23 ]. (1848) 1 H L Cas 326 [ 24 ]. Supra 195 [ 25 ]. [1975] 1QB 198, [1971] 3 All ER 907 [ 26 ]. [1958] 2 All ER 402, [1958] 1 WLK 753 [ 27 ]. [1950] 2 KB 86, [1957] 1All ER 693 [ 28 ]. Supra 196 [ 29 ]. [1905] 82 CT 49