How Economists Use Total Factor Productivity

Conceptually, total factor productivity refers to how efficiently and intensely inputs are used in the production process.  Total factor productivity (TFP) is sometimes referred to as multi-factor productivity, and, under certain assumptions, can be thought of as a measure of level of technology or knowledge. Formula for TFP Given the macro model: Yt ZtF(Kt,Lt), Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is defined to be Yt/F(Kt,Lt) Likewise, given Yt ZtF(Kt,Lt,Et,Mt), TFP is Yt/F(Kt,Lt,Et,Mt) The Solow residual is a measure of TFP. TFP presumably changes over time. There is disagreement in the literature over the question of whether the Solow residual measures technology shocks. Efforts to change the inputs, like Kt, to adjust for utilization rate and so forth, have the effect of changing the Solow residual and thus the measure of TFP. But the idea of TFP is well defined for each model of this kind. TFP is not necessarily a measure of technology since the TFP could be a function of other things like military spending, or monetary shocks, or the political party in power. Growth in total-factor productivity (TFP) represents output growth not accounted for by the growth in inputs. — Hornstein and Krusell (1996). Effects on TFP Disease, crime, and computer viruses have small negative effects on TFP using almost any measure of K and L, although with absolutely perfect measures of K and L they might disappear. Reason: crime, disease, and computer viruses make people AT WORK less productive.

The Legal Drinking Age Of The United States Essay

Tolerance People believe that alcohol is essential to have a great party. People use alcohol for many reasons; peer pressure, anxiety, and to curb insomnia are some of the few reasons. Alcohol affects the parts of the brain that controls movement, speech, judgement, and memory. This is why some people cannot remember the night before when they went out drinking. It is a common fact that most teenagers have had a drink of alcohol before their twenty-first birthday. Most teenagers drink regularly or in some cases, binge drink. Nobody can prevent underage drinking. When people tell a teenagers they cannot have something, it inclines them to want it even more and teenagers will go to extreme lengths to obtain it. In 1984, Congress passed the law stating the legal drinking age in the United States was twenty-one (Alcoholism). As of today, four states in the US are debating whether or not to lower the drinking age back to eighteen, New Hampshire, Minnesota, California, and New Jersey (Thrillist). The drinking age should be lower to eighteen years old because at this age, people can sign up for the military, it can aid colleges to promote safe drinking, and could aid in lowering drinking and driving car wrecks. â€Å"Nearly half of all alcohol use reported by college students is among those who are underage, according to the Johns Hopkins Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, and about forty percent of all college students binge drink† (Abba). Underage drinking inevitable. CollegeShow MoreRelatedThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States965 Words   |  4 Pages In the United States, when a man or women turn eighteen they are considered an adult. Being eighteen, they are not acknowledged as teenagers anymore. They have more freedom and more opportunities to become independent. Some of the opportunities an eighteen years old are given are the right to vote, open bank accounts, lease their own apartment or join the military. They have equal opportunities like adults over the age of twenty-one. However, anyone between the age of eighteen through twenty areRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States1270 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the world, the age when a child becomes an adult is at the age 18. Most people gain the right to vote, start to work for themselves, drive in certain countries. All of this being said, an additional privilege is the ability for one to be able to legally drink. The United States is one of the only countries who ´s legal drinking age is separate from the declared age of an official adult under the law. The idea of putting restrictions on a â€Å"legal† adult, makes the issue more complicatedRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States Essay1500 Words   |  6 PagesThe legal drinking age in the United States was ruled to be 21 in 1984, setting the country apart from almost all other western nations. These past 30 years have contained as much problems regarding the consumption of alcohol as one of the country’s biggest failures ever, the 18th amendment, otherwise known as prohibition. Also, the legal drinking age in the United States can be considered violation of states liberties, as the national government, albeit with good intentions, has intervened and onlyRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States2408 Words   |  10 PagesThe Legal Drinking Age The legal drinking age in the United States is 21, while in other countries the legal age ranges from 16-18. The argument in the United States is, â€Å"Should the United States lower its drinking age?† There are many sides to this argument but research has given many good points to back up both sides of the question. First issue is the difference between a teen’s brain with alcohol and an adult’s brain with alcohol. Another concern is that drinking at a younger age can help teachRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States1479 Words   |  6 Pages The legal drinking age in the United States has been argued for many decades. The current minimal legal drinking age is twenty-one but some want to lower between eighteen and twenty. The main focus of the research conducted and opinions of people are based on the minimal legal drinking age of eighteen. The research is taken from the 1970s, when the twenty-sixth Amendment was passed in the Constitution (Wage naar, 206). It was stated that eighteen is the â€Å"age of majority†, so thirty-nine of theRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States920 Words   |  4 Pages The legal drinking age has always been a debatable topic that people argue about all the time. Alcohol has been a drug problem for the majority of our young adults all around the world. The goal is to decrease the effects of underage drinking In the United States by keeping the legal drinking law 21. Every state had the right to their own legal drinking age, therefore during the 1970 1980’s some states had 21 while others had 18. This problem was carried over when teenagers got behindRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States1345 Words   |  6 PagesWith food, there comes a variety of cultural differences with beverages. One of the most popular drink markets in the United States is energy drinks. This industry has grown significantly in the past ten years, and many of the companie s are household names, such as Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar Energy. While they have mainstream success in the United States, many countries look down on these products because of their use of certain supplements, such as excess amounts of caffeine of taurine. SomeRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States1783 Words   |  8 PagesPersuasive-Research Essay The legal drinking age in the United States is 21, while in other countries the legal age ranges from 16-18. The argument in the United States is â€Å"Should the United States lower its drinking age?† There are many sides to this argument but research has given many good points to back up both sides of the question. First thing is the difference between a teen’s brain with alcohol and an adult’s brain with alcohol. Another thing is drinking at a younger age can help teach culture.Read MoreThe Legal Drinking Age For The United States Government Essay1196 Words   |  5 Pagesmultiple policies that should be taken into high consideration for the United States government. However, one specific topic that needs to be addressed is the legal drinking age. As of now, the legal drinking age in America is 21. To some residents, this law is considerably reasonable. To others, having the drinking age of 21 seems unnecessary for multiple reasons. Most people would agree th at having the current drinking age allows for more responsible teens and young adults. Yet in most cases, thisRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age At The United States Of America1698 Words   |  7 Pagesthe legal age to drink alcoholic beverages in the United States of America. Some otherwise intelligent people want to lower the legal drinking age to eighteen rather than keep it at twenty-one, the current federally mandated drinking age. In Time Magazine Mary Cary, author of Time to Lower the Drinking Age, puts forth the position that lowering the drinking age would actually be beneficial to society. Though lowering the drinking age to eighteen may lead to solutions to underage drinking, many

Grand Wines Project Plan

Question: Discuss about the Grand Wines Project Plan. Answer: Introduction This report involves development of a project plan for Grand Wines Ltd. The project involves purchase of hand held devices for the sales team of the company, development of an information system and its integration with the hand-held devices. The report presents a scope management plan, WBS, and risk register. Scope Management Plan Grand Wines Ltd is a wine maker and seller organization from NSW and it has over 400 independent Liquor and wine stores across nation. The company is operated by a large workforce and 20 of them are into sales that help company expand its operations and make business in NSW. The current sales process of the organization involves manual order taking by these sales representatives from customers and then mailing or faxing of these orders to the sales department that is located in Sydney. A sales database is maintained at the department which is linked with the inventory system supporting shipment of the ordered goods. The sales people enter the orders in the sales database to start the process of order and delivery management. However, the organization is currently facing certain operational challenges such as delays in order entries, unavailability of stock information on time, and loss of orders due to human errors. Because of these problems, customers and sales staff are not satisfied. However, the competing organization in the space have improved systems of inventory and ordering and are able to make faster deliveries and maintain accuracy of orders to keep customers and employees satisfied(Bright Hub Media, 2015). Requirements Aim of this project is to develop an information system for inventory management, order processing, and sales management for which hand held devices would be provided to the sales team which would be linked with the information system of database, inventories and order management(Antn, 2003). Key requirements of this system include: Ability to connect to the front end systems including hand held devices that would be carried by sales representations so that they can enter the orders received in the system instantly. The information system would manage orders, inventories, and delivery management. The system should get updated automatically such that the inventory information can be received instantly by the sales people anytime. Upon confirmation from clients on orders, sales representatives should be able to enter the order information instantly and update the same in the systems(PDA, 2007). In scope items The items that are in scope of this project include: Acquisition of the hand held devices Installation of the order management module on handheld devices. Development and installation of inventory management and order management system Migration of the legacy data into the new database. Testing of new information system Out scope items Process of selecting suppliers for hand held devices. Acceptance Criteria The acceptance criteria of the Information system development project include: Validation of ordering, inventory management and deliver processes for embedding into new system The processes should not take more than few seconds to respond to the user queries The interface should be understood by all the potential users of the applications including sales people, warehouse and order processing departments The required system must be delivered within 6 months Project activities should not take more than AUD 60000.00 which is the total allotted budget All deliverables should be met, recorded and reported at the end of the project as per the project plan(BIS, 2010). Deliverables Key deliverables of the system development project include: Project plan for the development, testing and implementation of the system Work break down structure highlighting the planned activities of the project Assigning responsibilities to people involved in the project to complete the project activities. Progress monitoring and reporting of the project activities to ensure deliverables are met Development of inventory and order management software Procurement of hand held devices for sales people Development of software for handheld devices and integration of the same with other information systems(The State of Maryland , 2015). Constraints There are certain constraints of this project that include: The Budget There are only AUD 60000.00 allotted as budget and thus, any activity included in the project cannot exceed this budget. If there is any need for additional funds then the same have to be requested and approved by the sponsor. The Time - Project has to be completed within 6 months after the start and thus, the project manager must keep checking the progress and comparing the same with plan to ensure that it is completed within time. The Resource Constraints The organizations has limited resources that are planned at initial stages. There could not be any new resources hired at any stage of development unless a resource left or is required to be replaced(Caltrans, 2007). Project Assumptions There are some assumptions on this project such as: The allotted budge is sufficient for completing all the activities as required by the project With proper monitoring and control established, the project activities can be completed within the scheduled time(Project Management Institute , 2000). Change Request Form Not all changes required on the project require special approvals from project sponsors. Such changes may be managed by the project manager. These may include change requests related to budget enhancement, schedule extension or new equipment purchases(IFRC, 2011). Work Breakdown Structure WBS Task Name 1 Hand held devices and Grand Wines Information system development 1.1 Project initiation 1.1.1 User Requirements 1.1.1.1 Sales representatives 1.1.1.2 Administrative users 1.1.3 Requirement documentation 1.1.4 Sponsor sign-offs 1.2 Project planning 1.2.1 Scope management Plan 1.2.2 Resource Management Plan 1.2.3 Project plan approval 1.3 Project Execution 1.3.1 Procurement (Metafuse, Inc.;Core Performance Concepts, 2015) 1.3.1.1 Purchase Hand Held devices 1.3.1.2 Software licenses 1.3.1.3 Order Management 1.3.1.4 Sales Management 1.3.1.5 Inventory Management 1.3.2 Development 1.3.2.1 Customization of software 1.3.2.2 Integration with hand held devices 1.3.3 Testing 1.3.3.1 Functional testing 1.3.3.2 User Acceptance testing 1.3.4 Training 1.3.4.1 Sales representatives training 1.3.4.2 Administrator training 1.4 Project closure 1.4.1 Disperse or release human resources 1.4.2 Project closure documentation 1.4.3 Project Closure sign off(U.S. Department of the Interior , 2012) Gantt chart Budget Time-phased budget Task Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16 Project initiation User Requirements Sales representatives 1440 Administrative users 1680 Requirement documentation 1920 Sponsor sign-offs 1200 Project planning Scope management Plan 840 Resource Management Plan 840 Resource Management and Finalization 840 Risk Management - Assessment and Estimation 1920 Project Plan Creation 1920 Submission of project plan 1920 Approve project plan 640 Project Execution Procurement Purchase Hand Held devices 840 Software licenses 840 Order Management 920 1000 Sales Management 1920 Inventory Management 1920 Development Customization of software 5000 3000 Integration with hand held devices 4000 Testing Unit testing 1200 Functional testing 1200 User Acceptance testing 1600 Trace bugs 800 Prepare bug report 800 Send bug report to developer 1280 Resolve bugs 4000 Final testing 1920 Training Sales representatives training 40 800 Administrator training 40 800 Project closure Disperse or release human resources 1920 Project closure documentation 2760 Project Closure sign off 1920 Cost/month 17760 9840 11000 8880 8200 Cumulative cost 17760 27600 38600 47480 55680 Total project cost would be $60000 without any addition for contingency. However, 20% would be added to this for contingency. If for any reasons, project costs exceed the budget; this contingency fund would be utilized(Metafuse, Inc.;Core Performance Concepts, 2015). Each resource is required to give minimum 8hrs/day. However, in any case, a resource is not available then it has to be replaced some other resource. Secondly, if cost of software or hardware increase due to change in economic terms then additional amount needs to be satisfied by the available contingency. These issues require intervention from high management and opinions of industry experts. Risk register No. Rank Risk Category Description Root Causes Potential Responses Risk owner Probability Impact Status R01 1 Budget overshooting Costs risk Cost overrun If the prices of the hand held devices or licenses increase when the actual procurement is required from the plan, it would cause the price to rise. While working on the project, delays and scope changes may require additional funds to be allotted for human resource. Weekly reports: Contingency budget may be utilized for managing additional requirements. Project cost must be planned considering the future fluctuations that may occur Project Manager Low High Medium R02 2 Schedule overrun Time risk Delays in meeting milestone deadlines Time not utilized efficiently for completing the WBS activities Weekly reports: The project should be monitored and the progress must be measured against the project plan to identify any possibilities of deviations such that control measures can be taken to prevent the variations Project Manager High Medium Extreme R03 3 Deliverables do not meet user requirements Scope Risks Scope changes Inability to meet deadlines as per milestones -Meet all project stakeholders during requirement gathering and ensure that all their requirement are included in the project requirement document which must also be validated and approved by key stakeholders to ensure that no requirement is missed. Project Manager Low High Medium R04 4 Project completed before time Time risk Completion before Go-Live date Budget and resources are utilized more effectively than expected Release human resources Project Manager Low High Medium(Masons Thelen Reid LLP, 2006) Conclusions The project proposed involved development of an information system for Grand wines and purchase of hand held devices that were to be integrated with these information systems. The project plan was prepared using the principles of project management. The plan included project WBS, schedule, budget, and risk response plan. References Changefirst Limited, 2009. Change and project management , s.l.: ChangeFirst. PM College, 2009. Resource Management and the PMO, Philadelphia, Pa., USA: Project Management Solutions, Inc.. Antn, A. I., 2003. Successful Software Projects Need Requirements Planning, s.l.: North Carolina State University. BIS, 2010. How to organise, plan and control Projects, s.l.: BIS. Bright Hub Media, 2015. Constructing Powerful Scope Statements. [Online] Available at: https://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/57950-example-and-evaluation-of-project-scope-statements/ Caltrans, 2007. Project Communication Handbook. s.l.:Caltrans. FME, 2014. Project Human Resources Management, s.l.: FME. IFRC, 2011. Project/programme monitoring and evaluation (ME) guide, Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross . Masons Thelen Reid LLP, 2006. Managing Payment Risks on International Construction Projects, s.l.: Overseas Construction Association of Japan, Inc.. Metafuse, Inc.;Core Performance Concepts, 2015. Project Scheduling. [Online] Available at: https://www.projectinsight.net/project-management-basics/project-management-schedule PDA, 2007. Project Management: Project Justification and Planning. 1st: Scottish Qualifications Authority . Project Management Institute , 2000. A guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge , s.l.: Project Management Institute . The State of Maryland , 2015. PROJECT SCOPE STATEMENT, s.l.: s.n. U.S. Department of the Interior , 2012. Project Management Framework, s.l.: U.S. Department of the Interior . WSDOT, 2015. Cost Estimating Manual for Projects , s.l.: Washington State Department of Transportation.