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Effects of individualism on economic performance
Effects of Individualism on Economic Performance
Since the times of Max Weber who was a classical economist, culture has been recognized as a pivotal pillar towards economic growth. The classical economist acknowledged that the protestant ethic of Calvinism fueled the growth of capitalism in its early stages. Therefore, it is clearly evident that individualism is related to the classical political model of liberal democracy, where individuals with better knowledge form their own political opinion on their daily issues, rationally and independent of others. Although,this has brought about inequality in wealth distribution and exploitation by power interest in many countries that support individualistic culture such as America. Lands and mokyr, both economists, have recently recognized the role played culture in the economic development and growth, especially its crucial role in industrial revolution (Gorodnichenko & Roland, pg 1, 2).
People see culture as a set of beliefs and values that an individual must possess in order to understand how the world functions. Basing on this definition, culture has crucial role not only social customs but also in economic performance. The economic performance includes the incentives for investments, invention and innovations, supply labor, work, among others. Many researchers have come-up with explanations on how individualism cultural has lead to great effects on innovation and the economic growth in the long run. Hence, this is one of the reasons why people value individualism as their culture (Gorodnichenko & Roland, pg 4).
The definition for individualism emphasizes on two major terms; personal achievements and freedom. Therefore, individualist culture is known to honor social status to personal achievements such as innovations, important discoveries among other activities that make one to stand out. Another significance of individualism is evident in the model of perfect market by Adam smith. In this kind of market, ceteri paribus, there are many sellers and buyers, hence no single seller can have much influence over prices. Therefore, prices of various goods and services are determined through interacting forces of demand and supply. Adam Smith argued that when individuals are left free to pursue their own selfish-interests, they will behave responsibly as if they are being guided by an “invisible hand.” The selfish-interests provide incentives for individuals to innovate intensively so long as they are not committing a crime. Adam smith saw self-interest as a driving strength towards an ideal society with better production level. Hence, capitalism is viewed as the embodiment of individualism by many economists. However, individualism is prone to inefficiencies especially in collective actions (Gorodnichenko & Roland, pg 5, 6).
To prove that individualism encourages innovation, we use an endogenous growth model, in which there are two sectors; final goods sector and intermediate inputs. The intermediate goods sector is occupied with producers who produce differentiated, improperly and substitutable for production of final goods. Entrepreneurs get satisfaction both from consumption and social reputation linked with producing of higher quality of products. Therefore, this social honor is acts as an economic incentive and it is more pronounced in individualistic culture to encourage productivity. The quality of intermediate inputs will depends on the effort put in researches, and the effort is the monetary and social honor offered as rewards towards innovation. In this theoretical setting we find that individualism to attract more innovations because of both monetary and social honors as rewards. This makes individuals to direct more labor in innovative activities which in turn leads in to advanced levels of productivity and output in long run. Therefore, it accelerates dynamic efficiency leading to increase in economic growth in the long run(Gorodnichenko & Roland, pg 6)
In empirical analysis, we try to analyze how the individualism score works. Individualism score tries to examine to which extend an individual is believed to take care of himself. The analysts found out that individuals in such culture valued personal freedom and class. Basing on Hofstede’s measure of collectivism-individualism culture we notice that in collectivist culture individuals have collective interest while in individualistic culture, people have personal interest. Hence, we notice a higher GDP per worker on individualism. In the report by Roland and Gorodnichenko, it is approximated that one deviation in individualism result in to a greater percentage in income levels. It is also true that as countries or persons get more wealthier, their culture tend to be more individualistic (Gorodnichenko & Roland, pg 4).
The significance of individualism in innovation can also be linked to the psychological fundamentals. The desire to stand out and the social honor rewards associated with individual accomplishments derived from the independent self and the desire for self-enhancement. Individuals view this achievements as the prove of their exceptional personality traits and talents. This is the reason to why they are motivated to discover these traits through their achievements. As a result, individualism has stimulated the need for rule of law as a way of settling conflicts, protection of property rights in order to limit individuals with more powers from manipulating others. Individualism has facilitated more cases of geographical mobility, loose family ties, more openness towards immigration, and existence of market- based social relations (Gorodnichenko & Roland, pg 18, 20, 22, 24 ).
Individualist culture value freedom more suitable environment for achieving self-goals. Not to forget the equality before the law, this is also an important value since lack of equality will violet the freedom of that particular group.
In this discussion we have tried to show how culture determines the economic development and economic growth of a given population. The empirical and theoretical researches have tried to explain how individualism affects long-term growth and innovation. In addition, we have also realized that individualism also affects other significant institutional and economic variable such as political institution, specialization and comparative advantages in trade.
Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Gerard Roland. Understanding the Individualism-Collectivism Cleavage and its Effects: Lessons from Cultural Psychology. Retrieved from http://emlab.berkeley.edu/~groland/pubs/IEA%20papervf.pdf (2011)
Effects of Increasing Sodium Chloride Concentration on the Growth of Ankistrodemus
Effects of Increasing Sodium Chloride Concentration on the Growth of Ankistrodemus falcatus
Name of Student
Institution Affiliation
Effects of Increasing Sodium Chloride Concentration on the Growth of Ankistrodesmus falcatus
The experiment was conducted to examine environmental pollution in the perspective of water pollution to be specific. Water pollution may come in different forms. Variation in sodium concentration is synonymous with changes in salinity in water. General characteristics of Ankistrodesmus falcatus halotolerance was studied by the experiments of growth and the follow-up analysis conducted on a weekly basis. The rate of growth and other growth responses of algae significantly depends on the concentration of different elements in the particular environment. Variation in the concentration of sodium chloride is therefore expected to induce different responses in the growth process of algae. Different nutrients play independent roles as nutrients elements for the particular species of algae. Algae are extremely tolerant to changes in salinity. The concentration of sodium chloride, therefore, has a role to play in altering the growth process of algae (Laws, 2017).
Living organisms, in general, regulate the concentrations of some ions to maintain the potential of the cell membrane. Salts and ions have the role of controlling the movement of water through osmosis. The halotolerance of a given living organism is a perfect reflection of the range of the concentrations of sodium that are suitable in which the organism can comfortably grow and survive. The requirements of sodium in living organisms vary significantly with different species. Different species of phylum Chlorophyta contains many species which survive in diverse environments. They, therefore, tolerate a high degree of halotolerance. However, there are some species which may behave differently. A. falcatus may be constrained to narrower ranges of sodium concentrations (Wong et al, 2016).
We conducted a lab experiment where we sought to investigate the effect of growing Ankistrodesmus falcatus in different saline conditions. This was to find out the relationship between sodium concentration and the growth response pattern of the organism at different concentrations. We hypothesized that the growth of a freshwater strain of Ankistrodesmus falcatus is directly affected by the addition of sodium chloride, with increasing the concentration corresponding to reduced algal growth in a one on one relationship.
Method
A.Falcatus, a species of algae was selected to find out the effect of different salinity concentrations on algal growth activity. Ankistrodesmus culture solution was obtained locally. The pollutant used in the experiment was salt. 5OOmM of Sodium chloride was used as the pollutant. Consequently, this solution was treated as a 100% pollutant solution.
Calculations to determine the volumetric requirements were perfomed as soon as the the preparation for the lab experiment began.4 tubes were used in the experiment. The first tube was used as a negative control tube while the remaining three tubes were for the experiment. 5ml of Ankistrodesmus culture solution was used in the main experiment under investigation. The culture solution was placed in tubes with a maximum capacity of 10ml. The volume of Alga-gro used in the experiment continuously decreased from one tube to the other by a difference of one. The pollutant, Sodium chloride solution was added in proportions of upto 4ml being the maximum value. No pollutant was added to the negative control tube. Addition of the volumes of Ankistrodesmus culture solution, the Alga-gro and the pollutant brought a maximum value of 10ml. Caps were used to tighly seal the tubes. In order to enhance homogeneity, the samples were turned over several times after which the tightened caps were loosened to maintain an equilibrium with the atmosphere. Incubation of the culture solutions took one week at a constant temperature. The table looked like this.
Negative control Tube Tube 1 Tube 2 Tube 3
Ankistrodesmus culture Solution 5ml 5ml 5ml 5ml
Alga-gro 5ml 4ml 3ml 1ml
Pollutant 0ml 1ml 2ml 4ml
Total Volume 10ml 10ml 10ml 10ml
Final % Pollutant 0% 10% 20% 40%
Before setting up the blanks another table was set up. The purpose of these second tubes was to act as a control experiment.
Negative Control Tube Blank Tube 1 Blank Tube 2 Blank Tube 3 Blank
Alga-gro 10ml 9ml 8ml 6ml
Pollutant(At stock concentration) 0ml 1ml 2ml 4ml
Total Volume 10ml 10ml 10ml 10ml
Final % Pollutant 0 10% 20% 40%
Additionally, absorbance of a pure, undiluted Ankistrodesmus culture was measured at different wavelengths. It was ensured that, the instrument was blanked before each reading. One optical density was defined as the number of cells associated with one unit of absorption at 450nm nm. This value was determined via the spectrophotometric analysis. Before taking further reading, it was ensured that the spectrophotometer was set to the 450nm wavelength that was determined to be the optimum. Here is the table for the absorbance
400nm 450nm 500nm 550nm 600nm 650nm 700nm
Absorbance For each of the tube samples, the absorption was measured and the value obtained multiplied by 1 optical density unit in order to determine the density of the sample cells. Statistical analysis was conducted on the results and the relationship between the cell density and the sodium chloride concentration determined. The table for the wavelengths is given below.
Day 0 O.D Day 1 O.D Day 2 O.D Net Gain/Loss O.D Average Gain/Loss O.DControl A Control B Tube 1A Tube 1B Tube 2A Tube 2B Tube 3A Tube 3B Results
The result table for turbulence is as shown below
400nm 450nm 500nm 550nm 600nm 650nm 700nm
Absorbance 0.069 0.092 0.065 0.038 0.038 0.045 0.050
On the other hand, the table for the wavelengths determined on the tube samples on the three days is provided below. Additionally, the net gain loss is provided in the table. From the net gain or loss, the average gain or loss is also provided.
Day 0 O.D Day 1 O.D Day 2 O.D Net Gain/Loss O.D Average Gain/Loss O.D
Control A 0.031 0.067 0.040 0.009 -0.029
Control B 0.079 0.051 0.012 -0.067 Tube 1A 0.031 0.061 0.057 0.024 0.0135
Tube 1B 0.047 0.084 0.048 0.001 Tube 2A 0.057 0.071 0.081 -0.026 0.016
Tube 2B 0.041 0.057 0.035 -0.006 Tube 3A 0.116 0.023 0.015 -0.101 -0.0665
Tube 3B 0.043 0.011 0.011 -0.032 The graph below shows the relationship between the wavelength and the absorbance.
The graph below shows the concentration gradient curve of the pollutant versus the O.D at different days.
Discussion
In this experiment, sodium chloride was found to inhibit the growth of Ankistrodesmus falcatus. Significant inhibition was observed in Tube 3A as indicated by the net loss in biomass activity at a high concentration of the sodium chloride. Although the difference between the densities in the freshwater and saline water was not very strong, the data collected at the lab demonstrated that there was a strong inverse relationship between the absorbance and the wavelength in conjunction with the sodium chloride concentration.
We hypothesized that the high concentration of sodium chloride would inhibit the growth of Ankistrodesmus falcatus in a linear relationship. For every molar increase in the concentration of sodium chloride, the cell growth inhibition increased by a factor of five. The differences in the optical densities imply that the growth as observed in the cell densities was directly proportional to the concentration of the sodium chloride solution.
In conclusion, the growth of the algae was greatly hindered by increasing the concentration of sodium chloride concentration. This, therefore, suggests that there was a strong negative correlation between the concentration of sodium chloride and growth of Ankistrodesmus falcatus. The relationship between the absorbance and the wavelength was not conclusive enough to give definite results. This is because it was not linear in a low-saline environment. Further studies should investigate the effect of the concentration of other elements in the environment to the growth of different algal strains.
References
Laws, E. A. (2017). Aquatic pollution: an introductory text. John Wiley & Sons.
Wang, D., Wang, W., Xu, N., & Sun, X. (2016). Changes in growth, carbon and nitrogen enzyme activity and mRNA accumulation in the halophilic microalga Dunaliella viridis in response to NaCl stress. Journal of Ocean University of China, 15(6), 1094-1100.
Florida State Representative (2)
Florida State Representative
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The Honorable ………..
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Dear Representative ………..,
Am very fortunate to live in a country full of heritage as well as a country with the largest potential for economic growth. I am a resident of the state of Florida where I have been much interested in the minimum wage of the employees. The primary aim of each state is to reduce the rate of dependency and to increase their economic growth and therefore to achieve this; they have to reduce poverty levels by increasing the minimum wage per hour to about 11 dollars. Am happy to share this platform with you so that my plea will make it to the Congress and get to be addressed.
Research has shown that the countries with a higher minimum wage per hour have less number of people living below the poverty line and that most of the residents are in the middle class. The reason is that they are able to have the minimum salary that is required to maintain them in their daily lives and can, therefore, afford to save a few coins, therefore, and doesn’t have to rely on well-wishers or the government to foot their bills. Most of the states in the US have increased their minimum wage, and their economy has been doing fine with the example of Washington with the minimum wage of 11.50 dollars. The main reason as to the request is that the wage rate may keep the pace set by inflation as the past increment has been much lower.
I, therefore, do ask for your support in pushing for the bill regarding the increment of the minimum wage per hour to about 11 dollars. In supporting the bill, a large number of employees in the state of Florida will benefit and will be able to reduce the rate of dependency through poverty elimination and finally increase our country’s gross domestic product. I believe that your support on this bill will have a massive impact on the lives of the Florida residents
Sincere
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