To What Extent Was the Enlightenment the Cause of the...

To what extent were Enlightenment ideas responsible for the outbreak of the French Revolution and the reforms of 1789? Included sources attached: John Locke, â€Å"Two Treatises on Government†, 1690; The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizens, 1789; Arthur Young â€Å"Travels in France during the Years 1787, 1788, 1789† The ancien rà ©gime, the time before the outbreak of the revolution, was divided into three estates. The first estate, for the people of the highest position in France belonged to the clergy; this group contained the members of the religious rules such as Bishops, Monks and Nuns. However, the people of this estate were not popular among many people of especially the third estate. This was mainly because of the power†¦show more content†¦John Locke, an English philosopher, also known as the father of Classical Liberalism, said in 1690 from â€Å"Two Treatises on Government†; [On the state of nature] To understand political power aright, and derive it from its original, we must consider what estate all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of Nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man (...) We derive from this that men are all equal and we should not expect political power to be understood right if we do not realize that men are equal in all Estates. With Estates, the laws of nature won’t be heard and it is not naturally human to build up Estates in a country. This excerpt also has a lot to do with the rights of men and especially the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen. This will be discussed later on in the Essay. The birth of the Enlightenment happened during the 18th Century and it emerged from Europe as an intellectual movement of writers and thinkers questioning and challenging the ideas and views that at the time was widely accepted. Especially the Catholic Church was challenged for its traditional and determined values. Their analysis of society was based on reason and rational thoughts rather than superstition and traditional ways. The movementShow MoreRelatedTo What Extent Was The Enlightenment The Main Driving Force Behind The American And French Revolutions?1479 Words   |  6 Pagesinvestigation focuses on the causes of Atlantic Revolutions and will explore the question: To what extent was the Enlightenment the main driving force behind the American and French Revolutions? The years 1685 to 1815 (Strayer, 2011) will be the focus of this investigation to allow for an analysis of the Enlightenment ideas’ impact the need for governmental change in the American colonies and Fran ce during the eighteenth century, as well as their governmental influences post-revolutions. †¯ The first sourceRead MoreImpact Of The French Revolution1428 Words   |  6 Pages The French Revolution became an exceedingly prominent aspect of the way the citizens of France viewed their ruling powers and helped aid the shift on how the government distinctly ruled over the people of the country. This empowering Revolution used the ideologies of the Enlightenment Era to help fuel their reasons for rebellion. In contribution to the Enlightenment and the various ideas that were created throughout its spread were the concepts that were formed by English philosopher John LockeRead MoreEnlightenment And The Enlightenment Movement1317 Words   |  6 PagesWhat cultured such an immense need for reform in France between 1690 C.E. and 1789 C.E.? Geo. H. Lewis argues in his DeFOREST ORATION. CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION that the extremely high and constricting taxes implemented in France, the conflicts between the nobility and the working class, and the uncooperativeness of the King cr eated a sense of urgency for the general population of France (Lewis, pg. 51-52). Louis Gottschalk attributes this reform to the revolutionary ideas which were formulatedRead MoreRole of Ideas in the French and Russian Revolutions1432 Words   |  6 Pages1511 How important was the role of ideas in the outbreak of revolution? 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A combination of strangling taxes, economic disparity, and an impotent ruler led to the development of an intense need for reform in France. â€Å"France spent a n enormous amount of money duringRead MoreAssess the View That the Enlightenment Had Been the Main Cause of the French Revolution.1984 Words   |  8 PagesAssess the view that the Enlightenment had been the main cause of the French Revolution. The French Revolution of 1789 was inarguably a significant turning point in the history of Europe. However, there have been historical debates over the major contributing factor that had caused the French Revolution. Many historians have argued that the French Revolution was sparked by the emerging new age ideas of Enlightenment in the 18th century, which encouraged people to think logically and critically aboutRead MoreCauses of the French Revolution During the period of 1789-1799 people lived much differently than700 Words   |  3 PagesCauses of the French Revolution During the period of 1789-1799 people lived much differently than individuals do today and there were many reasons for this. During the French Revolution there was a large amount of taxation for certain class groups, â€Å"While average tax rates were higher in Britain, the burden on the common people was greater in France† (GNU, 2008, pg. 2). Due to these large taxations on the peasants and lower class and not on the clergy and nobles it caused excessive conflict betweenRead MoreThe Debate On The French Revolution Essay1404 Words   |  6 PagesThe Debate on the French Revolution For the French Revolution, the historians are mainly entangled in the debate between two different interpretations. The Marxists recognize the French Revolution as the conflict between the old order (feudal system) and the modern society. On the other hand, the revisionists consider the French Revolution as essentially a political revolution, instead of a bourgeois revolution. From my perspective, the French Revolution is a combined consequence of both economicRead MoreWas The French Nobility Responsible For The Crisis That Destroyed The Ancien Regime?1627 Words   |  7 PagesESSAY QUESTION: To what extent was the French nobility responsible for the crisis that destroyed the ancien regime? Many Historians have come to the decisive conclusion that the French Revolution, an event that characterises Modern European History, has changed Europe. It was a time period that took place prior to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, between 1789 and the late 1970s. it denotes a time period in which the French civilians were aroused unanimously in overturning the traditionalistic â€Å"institutions†Read MoreFrench Revolution Causes1139 Words   |  5 Pages The French Revolution was not an event that happened overnight but rather a series of events that occurred over several years leading up to the overthrow of the monarchy and the implementation of a new government. The Primary cause for the fall of the Ancien regime was its financial instability and inability to improve upon the lives of the French people. The 4 key flaws or events leading to the fall of the regime was; the structure of royal government, the taxation system, the structure of french

Union Parishad The Lowest Tier Of The Local Government

Union Parishad (UP) The Union Parishad is the lowest tier of the local government unit. It is the entry level of the people’s political participation. The Union Parishad constituted under the Local Government (Union Parishads) Ordinance, 1983. It should be consisting twelve members, including three women members from reserving seats and on chairman. According to the Local Government Ordinance, 1983- the members and the chairman should be elected through direct election, based on adult franchise (Talukder, 2009). The functions of Union Parishad are categorized into different categories including, civic duties, revenue collection and administrative functions, development functions, judicial functions and transferred the functions (Moin, 2011). Objectives of the Study The objectives of the paper are given below: 1) To present the existing status of women in the lowest tier of the local government in the Union Parishad. 2) To find out the obstacles behind the lower representative status of women in the Union Parishad. 3) To propose actions to raise the participation of women in the Union Parishad of Bangladesh. Methodology This study is ultimately done on the basis of the analyzing the information collected from different secondary sources, i.e. published books, journals, reports, government publications and newspapers. Some information also got from the browsing of the internet. Progression of Local Government in Bangladesh Local Government (LG), the history of this part of the

Long-term performance of IPOs Evidence from Singapore Market Free Essays

string(58) " This period of poor performance lasts for several years\." Introduction Stock markets are a key part of the capitalistic economic system as they bring together those in need of capital and those with surplus capital to invest. Initial public offerings of companies whose share capital had previously been privately held provides just such an opportunity. The IPO process entails due diligence and pricing by underwriters, after which they underwrite the issue and sell it to investors in the primary market. We will write a custom essay sample on Long-term performance of IPOs: Evidence from Singapore Market or any similar topic only for you Order Now Following the IPO, the company’s shares trade in the secondary market until the company is shut down or is merged with another company or is acquired. In addition to IPOs, companies which are already public can also participate in capital raising by undertaking secondary stock offerings which investors can use as investment vehicles to increase returns on their portfolios. Traditional finance theory recommends individual investors to adopt a buy-and-hold strategy for investments in the stock market, since they are unable to time the market, and since the efficient market hypothesis suggests that all available information is immediately incorporated in stock prices. A question this raises is whether long-term buy-and-hold a profitable investment strategy in the initial public offerings (IPOs) asset class for individual investorsAccording to the bulk of literature on this subject, the answer is no. However, there are variations in the results depending upon how the comparison index is selected and what market is being studied. Investors may also be able to select a winning portfolio of buy-and-hold IPO investments if they are successfully able to predict what factors lead to strong or weak price performance in the IPO universe. This study attempts to collect previous research on the subject and apply the learning to the Singapore market. One objective wo uld be to identify ex-post which factors led to IPO success. Indirectly, it may help investors reduce risk and earn strong returns while devising ex-ante investment strategies as well. Organization First this study will review the existing literature on the subject and summarize its conclusions. Then it will use the statistical methods used by prominent studies such as Loughran and Ritter (1995) to calculate whether IPOs have underperformed the market in Singapore. The study will also collect what other papers have identified as sources of high performance within the universe of IPOs and see whether these results hold in IPOs in Singapore as well. Some of these factors include high percentage of institutional ownership, venture backing, industry and age of the company at IPO. Problem Statement Equity investors are constantly looking to maximize their risk-adjusted returns by investing in various asset classes in financial markets. The results from the literature lead to the conclusion that a strategy of buy-and-hold investments in IPOs underperforms the market on average. What would be interesting and useful would be to see whether a subset of IPOs can be identified where this result does not hold and where a different version of the strategy can be shown to produce a higher return for investors than the index or benchmark portfolio. Research Objectives The objective of the research is to study performance of Singapore listed IPOs using factors which have been identified in academic literature as having effect on IPO performance, including: percentage of institutional ownership venture backing reputation of the underwriter industry age of the company at IPO legal and institutional environment The ultimate objective is to see whether factors can be identified that lead to recommendation of alternative investment strategies which perform better than buy-and-hold of IPOs for a multiple year holding period. Proposal Structure IPOs listed on the Singapore stock exchange during the five year period of 2000 – 2004 would initially be identified. Subsequently, 3-year, 5-year and 10-year buy-and-hold returns of these portfolios would be calculated and compared to returns over the same period by a stock exchange index such as the Strait Times Index (STI). Another method for comparing results to market could be the selection and composition of a matching portfolio which would be used to compare underperformance or overperformance over the holding period. To create a matching portfolio, a similar sized public company that did not issue equity for five years prior to the IPO date would have to be selected for each IPO company. The return on the matching portfolio would be compared to the return on the IPO portfolio as per Loughran and Ritter (1995). It will be assumed that investors would purchase shares in the secondary market and none of them would be lucky enough to be allocated shares by the underwriter at the offering price. Literature Review Underperformance of IPOs relative to market indices has been studied extensively in academic literature. One series of articles examines the degree of underperformance of IPOs relative to market indices and asks what factors could cause such underperformance. Factors typically examined include size of the IPO, the company’s industry, whether the company is venture backed or not, the degree of institutional holdings, age of the company at IPO, quality of the underwriter and the institutional and legal environment of the company. Another string of literature looks at empirical evidence of underperformance in different markets, including the US, several European countries including Germany (Stehle, Ehrhardt Przyborowsky, 2000), Switzerland and Greece and several developing Asian markets such as Malaysia, Taiwan and China. Most of these studies take time series data of IPOs during a given period of time. Then they look at nominal buy-and-hold returns over 3 or 5 years, typically without assuming any portfolio rebalancing, though as shown by Brav and Gompers (1997), the results hold even if portfolio rebalancing is introduced. The returns of individual IPOs are compared with results of an industry index such as SP 500, Nasdaq or NYSE, or with an industry benchmark portfolio (value weighted or equally weighted). The typical pattern of IPO returns that emerges is the following: After a period of strong performance following an IPO, the stock starts to underperform the market index. This period of poor performance lasts for several years. You read "Long-term performance of IPOs: Evidence from Singapore Market" in category "Essay examples" The length of the period of initial strong performance lasts up to several months, depending on whether or not the stock market is in a bullish state. Ritter (1991) examines both underpricing of IPOs and their underperformance. Underpricing is a phenomenon in which investment banks taking a company public, and wanting to manage their own risk, keep offer price low in order to build a strong deal book and to keep market participants incentivized for participation in the offering. This is reflected in the fact that on average there is a 16.4% gain from the offering price to the closing price on the first day. In addition, the author believes the IPOs appear to be overpriced when 3-year IPO returns are compared to 3-year returns for comparable firms matched by size and industry. In a sample of 1526 common stock IPOs between 1975 and 1984, IPOs produced a return of 34.47% and seasoned offerings produced a return of 61.86%, 3-years after going public. Upon careful examination of the sample, the author concludes that the cause of the underperformance are those small IPOs that benefit in the short-run due to optimistic market conditions, but which are not able to establish themselves in the long-run. Loughran and Ritter (1995) find that all issues, both IPO and secondary, offered during 1970 to 1990 produced poor long-term returns for investors. Using a strategy of 5-year buy and hold investing would have produced a result of only 5% per annum for IPOs and 7% per annum for secondary offerings. The authors highlight an important observation for potential underperformance by secondary offerings (SEOs) – most public companies opt for secondary offerings following high return periods in the market; thus their subsequent underperformance may simply be linked to eventual reversion of returns to their long-term averages. In order to judge the performance of secondary offerings, for each issuing firm the study choose a non-issuing matching firm that is similar in size and has not issued equity in the previous 5 years. The authors calculate wealth relatives for each year as the ratio of end-of-period wealth from holding a portfolio of matching firms with the same starting market capitalization. The ratio is below 1 in most years indicating that investors would have been better off investing in buy-and-hold strategy in non-issuing firms. The authors conclude that it is not advisable for investors to invest in shares of companies issuing stock. Instead investors would be able to generate the same return with 44% less capital if they simply invested in similar size non-issuing companies for the same holding period. The results in Loughran and Ritter (1995) do not control for industry since it is often difficult to find matching companies in the industry which also share similar size. According to a study by Spiess and Afflect-Greaves (1995) nearly one-third of the long-run underperformance of secondary offerings comes from industry effect. Another potential explanation for why this happens is offered by Lerner (1994) – firms which are not yet ready to grow cashflows consistently sometimes take advantage of the IPO window during bull markets and other periods of market exuberance, only to then suffer from poor market performance when cashflows do not keep pace with market expectations (Clark, 2002; Ljungqvist, Nanda Singh, 2006). If long-term IPO returns are infact so dismal, why do investors keep buying IPOs during all market cyclesAn insight into the solution is provided by Field (1995). The author analyzes the impact of the extent of institutional shareholding on long-term IPO performance and concludes that IPO having large holdings by institutions earn significantly higher long-term returns than those with low institutional holdings. Institutional holdings also differ substantially between industries. In fact, the latter category often fails to achieve even the risk-free rate of return available to bondholders. The author concludes that there are groups of IPOs which do not experience poor long-term performance, though they may be identifiable ex-ante. Other authors also identify factors that can lead groups of IPOs to have relatively strong performance. For example, Michaely and Shaw (1994) identify reputation of underwriter as one of the factors that is directly related to IPO return. Brav and Gompers (1997) find that venture backed IPOs outperformed non-venture backed IPOs significantly. The 5-year buy-and-hold return for venture backed IPOs was 44.6% while the equivalent figure for non-venture backed IPOs was 22.5%. These results were calculated based on equally weighting of components in an index, whereas if the index is value weighted then these differences are significantly reduced. The authors believe that their results might have inspired by the fact that venture backed companies tend to be those which are in growth industries and are at an early stage of their development cycle. Such companies are likely to have many good investment opportunities. The authors also find that underperformance resides primarily in small, non -venture backed IPOs. Qualitatively similar results are also provided by Bessler and Seim (2011) who study European venture backed IPOs. Turning to the second string of literature which deals with tests of IPO underperformance in different geographies, it appears that this phenomenon holds in both developed and less developed markets. While, the original hypothesis was formulated for the U.S. market, it holds to various degrees in most markets. Thomadakis, Nounis and Gounopoulous (2012) study performance of 254 IPOs during the 1994 – 2002 period. They find that the period of initial overperformance in Greece lasts longer than it does in western markets. While IPOs outperform the market in the first two years, by the third year underperformance sets in. The authors attribute this to longer ‘hot’ periods in the Greek market than in more developed western markets. In a study on the same subject in Taiwan, Wen and Cao (2013) find that IPOs perform as well as matching reference portfolios in the first year of trading and then start to underperform that portfolio. Drobetz, Kammerman and Walchli (2005) examine the same in the Swiss market. They find that while underperformance holds, it is much weaker than is suggested by equivalent tests from the US market. Chan, Wei and Wang (2001) find practically no underperformance of class A and B shares, though there is significantly higher underpricing of Class A shares compared to other markets. In another study on the Chinese stock market, Chi and Padgett (2002) find strong performance of Chinese Privatization IPOs, which the authors attribute to government ownership, offering size and belonging to the high tech industry. Reference List Ahmad?Zaluki, N. A., Campbell, K., Goodacre, A. 2007. The long run share price performance of Malaysian initial public offerings (IPOs). Journal of Business Finance Accounting, 34(1?2), 78-110. Bessler, W., Seim, M. 2011. European Venture-backed IPOs: An Empirical Analysis. Brav, A., Gompers, P. A. 1997. Myth or RealityThe Long?Run Underperformance of Initial Public Offerings: Evidence from Venture and Nonventure Capital?Backed Companies. The Journal of Finance, 52(5), 1791-1821. Chan, K., Wang, J., Wei, K. C. 2004. Underpricing and long-term performance of IPOs in China. Journal of Corporate Finance, 10(3), 409-430. Chi, J., Padgett, C. 2005. The performance and long-run characteristics of the Chinese IPO Market. Pacific Economic Review, 10(4), 451-469. Clark, D. T. 2002. A Study of the Relationship Between Firm Age?at?IPO and Aftermarket Stock Performance. Financial Markets, Institutions Instruments,11(4), 385-400. Drobetz, W., Kammermann, M., Walchli, U. 2005. Long-Term Performance of Initial Public Offerings: The Evidence for Switzerland. Schmalenbach Business Review, 57, 253-275. Espenlaub, S., Gregory, A., Tonks, I. 2000. Re?assessing the long?term underperformance of UK Initial Public Offerings. European Financial Management, 6(3), 319-342. Field, L. C. 1995. Is institutional investment in initial public offerings related to long-run performance of these firmsFinance. Lerner, J. 1994. Venture capitalists and the decision to go public. Journal of Financial Economics 35, 293 – 316. Ljungqvist, A., Nanda, V., Singh, R. 2006. Hot Markets, Investor Sentiment, and IPO Pricing*. The Journal of Business, 79(4), 1667-1702. Loughran, T., Ritter, J. R. 1995. The new issues puzzle. The Journal of Finance, 50(1), 23-51. Michaely, R., Shaw, W. H. 1994. The pricing of initial public offerings: Tests of adverse-selection and signaling theories. Review of Financial studies, 7(2), 279-319. Ritter, J. R. 1991. The long?run performance of initial public offerings. The journal of finance, 46(1), 3-27. Ritter, J. R. 2003. Differences between European and American IPO markets. European Financial Management, 9(4), 421-434. Schultz, P. 2003. Pseudo market timing and the long?run underperformance of IPOs. the Journal of Finance, 58(2), 483-518. Spiess, D. K., Affleck-Graves, J. 1995. Underperformance in long-run stock returns following seasoned equity offerings. Journal of Financial Economics, 38(3), 243-267. Stehle, R., Ehrhardt, O., Przyborowsky, R. 2000. Long?run stock performance of German initial public offerings and seasoned equity issues.European Financial Management, 6(2), 173-196. Teoh, S. H., Welch, I., Wong, T. J. 1998. Earnings management and the long?run market performance of initial public offerings. The Journal of Finance, 53(6), 1935-1974. Thomadakis, S., Nounis, C., Gounopoulos, D. 2012. Long?term Performance of Greek IPOs. European Financial Management, 18(1), 117-141. Wen, Y. F., Cao, M. H. 2013. Short-run and long-run performance of IPOs: evidence from Taiwan stock market. Finance and Accounting, 1(2), 32-40. How to cite Long-term performance of IPOs: Evidence from Singapore Market, Essay examples

Symbolism of the Glass Menagerie free essay sample

Symbolism of The Glass Menagerie In Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie, there is an abundance of symbolism that can be identified through careful analysis of the play write. The story is based around the Wingfield family. The daughter in the story is the central point of most of the symbolism. Laura, the daughter, has a collection of glass figurines in which the title of the play was named after. Within the glass collection there is a glass unicorn which holds a lot of symbolism and meaning behind it. The fire escape is the simplest, but most intriguing piece of symbolism.The Glass Menagerie has many symbolic objects throughout the play which can be analyzed further in detail. The title of the play is representational of the collection of animals witch is the central symbol of the play. Laura’s collection of glass figurines stands for a great deal of different aspects of her personality. We will write a custom essay sample on Symbolism of the Glass Menagerie or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Much like the figurines, Laura is tender, dreamlike, and somewhat old-fashioned. When it comes to glass it’s transparent, but when light passes through it at the right angle it shines and makes a rainbow of colors.Likewise, Laura might be quiet and unemotional around other people, kind of strange, gifted and wonderful to be around to one who could somehow look at her the right way or â€Å"in the right light†. The menagerie also symbolizes the imaginary world that Laura keeps herself in; a world that is beautiful and wonderful, but is established on fragile mirages. The unicorn in Laura’s collection of glass animals is defiantly her favorite out of all of them and portrays her distinctiveness very well.By asking why she has the unicorn since they are â€Å"extinct in modern times† and must feel â€Å"lonesome† as the mere fact of being different from all horses, Jim is implying that Laura is different from all girls. In reading more one can tell that Laura is also different, lonely, and, does not seem to exist in the world that she is lives in now. The destiny of the unicorn can be noted as a fore shadow to Laura’s destiny in scene seven. As Jim dances with Laura sharing a kiss, the unicorn’s horn is broken off, and it simply becomes another horse.Now Jim has bestowed Laura with some new and normal experiences, making her seem just like all the other gir ls. Experiencing normalcy, results in Laura feeling she cannot become normal without somehow being broken. Finally, the fire escape landing that leads out of the Wingfield’s apartment has great meaning. The fire escape stands for the exact thing that is implied by its name, a way to get away. Just as a fire escape provided a way to get away from danger, likewise it symbolizes an escape from the frustration and dysfunctions that are brewing within the Wingfield apartment.Laura’s fall on the fire escape implies she will never be able to leave the mishaps that have happened in her life. In contrast her brother Tom, daydreams about when he will finally leave it all behind as he smokes on the escape landing. Symbolism is a very important key component to literature and contributes to the interpretation and understanding of it. Symbolism can help reveal multiple aspects about the story that sometimes can’t be revealed simply through the text. It is through the glass collection the author conveys Laura’s personality throughout the story.